Through the Gate
by Bloodredalchemist
Summary: Edward returns to Amestris after one year in the world behind the Gate, along with a mysterious companion, who has an abnormal amount of knowledge concerning the Homunculi...
1. Chapter 1

_This is a random idea I came up with during a very boring math class. Possibly because I have procrastinate too much and don't pay too much attention during that class...and maybe because my schedule hasn't gotten insane yet...Well anyway, this is a bit of an AU, but I'm going to stick pretty close to the recent plot happenings in the FMA manga_._Recent as in, from the death of Lust, paralysis, and Scar vs. Ed Al Winry (slightly modified). I have no inventiveness for names, and this will be acknowledged in later chapters...And to OrangeKittyAlchemist and etc. I will eventually update other things...so bear with it just a little longer okay??  
_

* * *

He sat on the grass, staring up at the night sky with a lost look in his eyes. 

"Hey Winry…"

"What?"

"Do you think Nii-san's up there, watching over us?" asked the sandy-haired teenager.

Winry looked from the boy to the stars, and back again. For a second, she thought she could see a young Edward Elric, grinning at her. That image faded out, and she saw the older, young man, with his back towards her, walking away, and out of her life…

It had been a year since Ed had vanished while transmuting Al back to his original body. It still hurt to talk about him…

"_I SAID, The next time I make you cry, you'll be crying for happiness!"_

That was the one promise he had never fulfilled to her…When he disappeared, she had cried for him, as did Al, who was still angry at his brother for making such a decision.

"Yeah I do…" she smiled, as tears welled up in her eyes again.

"Maybe he's grown taller up there…"mused Winry aloud.

The two looked at each other, then both of them burst out laughing hysterically.

"Tomorrow…tomorrow, we should visit Second Lieutenant Havok," said Al after their laughter had subsided. Winry nodded.

Paralyzed from the waist down when part of his spinal cord had been severed, the poor man was expected to never recover, and would be forced to leave the military. Al and the other military personnel refused to tell her what had caused such a terrible injury, and the Lieutenant himself, wasn't talking either. He had tried to lie to her, but 'falling down the stairs' did not really encompass all of his injuries…

"We don't want to put you in danger Winry," said Alphonse gently, looking at her with those blue-grey eyes of his, so much like his older brother's…

"If you get involved, there's too much risk and danger involved," he said, looking back up at the sky.

"Nii-san understood that…" he added softly, getting a faraway look in his eyes.

Winry too, looked back up at the sky.

"I hope you're happy up there…Ed…" she whispered softly.

8.8.8

_Falling…torn apart…rebuilt…over and over again. He couldn't feel his hands, much less anything else anymore. Somehow though, he was still conscious of the person alongside him…falling with him._

"_We're almost there," he heard their voice say, "Hang on just a bit longer Elric…"_

_Impact._

A blinding flash of light lit up the entire sky, for a second making the world as bright as day.

"W-What the hell was that!" exclaimed Alphonse, jumping to his feet. The lights in the house turned on and Gracia Hughes and her young daughter Elysia came out.

"What on Earth could that be?" said the woman shocked.

"Gracia-san, stay here, I'll go check it out!" shouted Al, dashing off.

"But Al…WAIT!" called Winry after him. Did boys _ever_ think ahead properly?

"Men…" she growled before running after him.

8.8.8

"Ow Ow Ow Ow OWW!" He yelled rubbing his leg.

"Oww god dammit that hurt…" he groaned, pulling himself out of the dark impact crater that had formed.

"Quit complaining, at least you didn't have your ribs break and punch a hole through your lungs," retorted his companion heavily, still in the crater, panting.

"Are you okay?" he asked, a hint of worry in his voice.

" Course I am, you should worry more about your own fragile-self Elric," answered the hunter green hooded teen inside the crater, getting up slowly.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SHORT?" demanded Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist angrily.

"I didn't call you short, idiot…" sighed his companion getting out of the crater.

"Alric, are you _sure_ you're okay? You sound tired…" he asked, all anger gone from his voice, instead replaced with genuine concern. Alric pushed back the green hood to reveal a head of soft light golden wheat coloured blonde hair.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just that it took quite a bit out of me to get those blasted Doors open…" she said rubbing her left shoulder.

"How much?" asked Edward, his eyes boring into Alric's.

"Don't worry about it," she laughed dismissively, "I've still got a lot of lives left."

"Alric…" started Ed threateningly, "This isn't a joke. How much did you use?" he demanded, his golden eyes hard. The teenaged girl turned her own misty golden coloured eyes towards his.

"I told you not to worry about it…" she smiled, "For once, just worry about yourself, alright Elric?" she sighed tiredly.

"Now…" she continued, energy returning to her voice. "Where the hell are we?"


	2. Chapter 2

_I do not own FMA. If I did, I'd be filthy rich, and have all the manga I ever wanted, and super art skills._

_This is Chapter 2! Yay..._

* * *

"Did you find anything?" asked Colonel Mustang. Al shook his head dejectedly.

"It was just a huge crater in the ground. No chemical residues to suggest explosives, no run-off transmutation energy or signs either," he said.

"Next time, think before running off like that!" scolded Winry, "Do you have any idea how badly you scared Gracia-san pulling a stunt like that!" she said, prodding Alphonse Elric's arm.

Al wasn't paying attention to the automail mechanic at all; he was staring out the window of the car, a sad look on his face.

Mustang watched him expressionless, with the rearview mirror. He must have gotten his hopes up…The Fullmetal Alchemist, returning from the dead?

Ed had already been declared MIA, possibly KIA….they'd even had a memorial for the teenaged State Alchemist…

"How's your leg?" asked Alric as they continued walking down the street.

"I didn't think it would be this bad…" he groaned, rubbing his left leg.

"Oh…" was all the green cloaked girl said. Why had he even bothered?

Alric was glancing around watching every passerby's face suspiciously.

"Are you sure you won't be recognized?" asked Edward out of the corner of his mouth. Suddenly, she turned to him grinning hugely.

"None of those bastard's really had a thing for faces, and after all this time, I doubt they'd even remember me! Besides, they think I'm dead, and I've got this awesome disguise!" she said, jerking her thumb at herself. Edward, looked at the teenaged girl again. She was dressed exactly like he was, except that her jacket was dark green…but presently, she didn't really look like a girl…

"Yeah, I guess so…" he answered, as they continued walking. Her smile didn't quite reach her eyes at all, and soon after, the grin was completely gone from her face. She looked more withdrawn now, her eyes cloudier than they usually were, and unreadable.

"I thought you wanted to find your brother first…" she asked suddenly.

Edward looked up at the sky. Clear, blue, and sunny…beautiful day, really…

"I do, it's just that…I don't know if he's still here in Central or back in Rizenbul, so seeing that bastard Colonel first is the best way to find out where he is," answered the Fullmetal Alchemist. He glanced back towards Alric, who seemed lost in her thoughts. Why was he even surprised…

"You know, someday, you're going to tell me where you come from…" he said, looking at her from the corner of his eyes.

"I thought you knew that…" she said, not looking at him.

"I know how you came to be…I want to know WHY…" he said, emphasizing the difference.

"That's…" she paused for a second, "Let's just save that story for another time…" she said pulling her dark green hood over her head.

"How are you, lieutenant?" asked Winry, handing the paralyzed man, an apple.

"I'm just fine, Ms. Rockbell," grinned the spiky haired man, "Thanks…the food here in the hospital sucks…" he said, holding up the apple.

"Oh yeah…Congratulations Alphonse…well I guess I've got to call you _sir_ from now on…" said Havok, raising one hand in a sloppy salute.

"What?" said Winry, looking from Havok to Al.

"I'm a State Alchemist now, the confirmation came today…" said Alphonse, looking away from her eyes.

"But Al…why would you…" started Winry.

"Nii-san isn't dead, I'm going to find him. To do that, I'll need access to most of the documents that are only available to the State Alchemists…" said Alphonse, looking up at her finally, his eyes hard.

"But…you can't!" she yelled at him, "If there's another war…"

"I know that!" interrupted Alphonse harshly, cutting her off.

"I know all of that…" he repeated softer. "But in order to gain anything…sacrifices need to be made…"

"The General isn't in his office, he left just a few minutes ago…" said Central Headquarters' secretary.

"Where?" demanded Edward immediately, not waiting for the woman to finish.

"Central Military hospital, the Colonel is…"

_Click_.

Edward didn't bother to hear the rest of it.

"So?" asked Alric, as he walked out of the phone booth.

"The bastard isn't in his office…" said Edward, looking at the road, "He's apparently at Central military hospital," he told his companion.

"Why would he be there?" asked Alric, looking around again.

"How would I know!" retorted Edward irritably.

"Well anyway, we might as well head over there, and see what's up…" he continued.

"Sure…" said Alric, not really paying attention, "It'd best to be discrete about yourself though," she said, staring up at the sky.

"Why?" he asked.

"I'm not sure exactly where, but one of those bastards is close…" she growled.

Edward didn't really understand how she could tell, but he trusted her instincts…Just exactly what had she done to be shoved beyond the Gates?


	3. Chapter 3

"HEY EVERYBODY! WHAT'S WITH ALL THE GLOOMY FACES?" shouted a familiar voice.

"Th-this…This is impossible!" exclaimed Havok, staring at the Fullmetal Alchemist, standing in the doorway.

"N-Nii-san…?" said Al, standing up, and staring at his brother disbelievingly.

"Fullmetal?" shouted the Colonel, spinning around.

"Edward?" whispered Winry, looking at the blonde young man in front of her. He was taller than the last time she'd seen him…

"W-Winry? Al? W-What are you two doing here?" stammered Edward, surprised to see them.

"That's OUR line!" roared everyone in the room at him.

"Ed…How…You…"

"I never died," said Edward, looking tenderly at Al.

"I'm sorry Al…I made you worry…" he said, "Could you ever forgive me?" he asked.

Alphonse was biting his lip, trying hard not to cry. He was a State Alchemist damn it! He was supposed to have a heart of steel…

He bulled straight into his older brother, hugging him fiercely, tears streaming down his face.

"NII-SAN YOU IDIOT!" he yelled. Ed hugged him back gently.

"Yeah…as I've constantly been reminded…" he said.

Something seemed strange about Edward's body…

"Nii-san…your arm…" he said in wonder. Smiling, Ed pulled off his right glove, to reveal a flesh and blood hand.

"I got it back…" he said proudly, "Winry…" he said, looking at his childhood friend. Winry had tears pouring down her cheeks as well.

"Sorry…I made you cry again…" he apologized.

"ED YOU MORON!" she yelled, slapping him with a wrench, knocking both him and Alphonse to the ground.

"W-Winry!" exclaimed Alphonse, shocked.

"OW ow ow ow ow OWW!" yelled Edward, "Dammit Winry, that hurt!" he shouted, as he tried to get up.

"OW!" he yelled in pain, as he found that he couldn't get up.

Winry immediately looked at his leg.

"It's broken…" she said in wonder, gently running her hands over the limb "You've been walking on a broken leg?" she yelled at him.

"Shit…" growled Ed, ignoring her anger.

"Great job Elric," said an unfamiliar voice, "not here for five minutes and you've already gotten yourself injured," said a hooded person walking into the room.

"Do you have a habit of always needing someone else to save your ass?" asked the person irritably.

"Shut up…" growled Edward at the newcomer.

"W-Who are you?" demanded the Colonel, finally speaking.

Ed looked up at the dark-haired man.

"This is my friend, Alric, she was in the world on the other side of the Gate…Actually, she's the reason I was able to come back at all…" he said, looking at the hooded individual kindly.

"Pfft…" said Alric, "Saying nice things isn't going to save you…" she growled, slamming her hands down on his broken limb.

Ed screamed in pain.

"What are you doing?" yelled Alphonse, charging at Alric.

He threw a fierce punch at the green hooded girl. Alric simply moved her head, avoiding the blow, but the force from the punch knocked her hood back. With one hand, she caught Alphonse's arm, and threw him against the wall.

"Your little brother's just like you," growled Alric standing up, "Fight first ask questions later...it's a wonder you've lived for this long against those bastards…" she said, pulling Ed to his feet.

"Th-Thanks Alric…maybe you could have told them what you were going to do first…" he said weakly.

Mustang stared at the blonde girl standing next to Edward. It wasn't just the clothes…they looked very similar physically as well. Golden hair, golden eyes…just that this 'Alric' had fairer skin, and her face was more feminine looking than Edward's.

"Fullmetal…your leg…" he started, but Ed seemed to be fine…

"It's fine. Alric can heal almost any injury there is…it just sounds painful…" he said sheepishly.

Presently, Alphonse was looking ashamedly at his feet.

"Umm…Thank you Alric-san…for healing Nii-san's broken leg…" he said softly, "And…I'm sorry for attacking you…" he apologized.

Alric looked at him. Al felt his insides freeze. There was something about those misty golden eyes that made him uneasy…

"It's alright…" she said, walking towards Havok. She put a hand against his forehead.

"Spinal cord fracture…precise cut…about only a centimeter wide…Probably that old hag's work…" muttered the girl.

"W-What are you doing?" stammered Havok, waving his arms around.

"Stay still if you don't want your brains to decorate the walls," growled Alric threateningly.

Havok stopped moving immediately.

"Alric, don't push yourself…" started Ed warningly.

"Didn't I tell you to worry about yourself already? Idiot…" she muttered, clapping her hands together, and slamming them down on Havok's stomach.

* * *

When he opened his eyes, he saw everyone standing around him. The golden eyed girl, looked at him expressionless. 

"It'd be best for you to not try to move too much. I can just heal an injury, you have to take the time to recover…" she said, her eyes tired, "Boy that took more out of me than I thought…damn old hag…" she muttered.

Havok looked around. Everyone was looking at him expectantly.

"W-What?" he asked, slightly unsettled.

"Well?" chorused everyone in the room, except for Alric, who sat down, breathing heavily.

"It'll take some time for his brain to realize that it's connected to his legs again. When it does, we'll all know…" she yawned.

Edward looked over to the girl worriedly.

"Alric…"

"I told you not to worry about me," she growled, glaring at him. Edward was glaring right back at her. There seemed to be a lot of communication going on, between those two…

Finally Ed sighed, and looked away.

"Alright, alright…" grumbled the Fullmetal Boss, muttering to himself about something or other.

"Well, anyway, I guess we should finish all the introductions…" said Edward, finally.

Alric, glanced at him once, with one eye, before throwing her head over the back of the chair.

"Elric…you know how horrible I am with names…" she growled.

"Shut up, well anyway, I guess you figured out that this is Alphonse Elric, my little brother…" said Ed, throwing an arm around his younger brother.

"That's Winry, my automail mechanic, and childhood friend," he said, indicating the blue-eyed blonde girl with a finger.

"The guy you healed is Second-Lieutenant Jean Havok," continued the red-clad teenager, "And _that_…" he said, glaring at a dark-haired Xing looking man, "Is Roy Mustang," he growled.

Alric looked up at the dark-haired man.

"So you'd be Colonel Mustang, Elric's told me a lot about you," she grinned at him.

"Nothing overly pleasant, I suppose," sighed the Colonel, scratching his head.

"Nah, I think his exact words were, a stupid, womanizer, procrastinator, bastard, all around jerk of a Colonel," she said, smiling pleasantly.

"Oh," was the Colonel's response, "Glad to know you think of me that way Fullmetal," he said with a glare in the young alchemist's direction.

* * *

"OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" screamed Havok, suddenly, causing almost everyone to jump. 

"Nerve connection. Very painful, I can assure you of that," said Alric, as if she was commenting on the weather.

Winry nodded sagely. Her thoughts roaming towards a certain eleven year old boy, who endured the entire procedure for automail without so much as a scream or a tear…

"Well, it's getting late, why don't we all go home now?" suggested the automail mechanic.

"Yeah…let's go home…" smiled Edward.

* * *

Slacking off during Careers...be grateful...usually I'd NEVER do this...and Sony, be happy I put in 'breaks', you are SO dead later... 


	4. Chapter 4

The next day, Edward came into Central Headquarters, and was nearly smothered to death by people crowding around him, congratulating him on his miraculous return from the dead. Alric was not really amused by all of that, and scared off the majority of the well-wishers with one of her paralyzing, colour-draining glares.

Some of the more persistent ones were dealt hefty blows from both the famed Fullmetal Alchemist, his little brother, and some nobody who was acquainted with him.

"God damn it, ten minutes just to get all the way down to the office," growled Edward, brushing off his jacket, as he opened the door.

"Fullmetal…you're late, Ms. Alric, Alphonse," greeted the Colonel.

"Nice to see you too, jerk-face," growled Ed, sitting down on the couch.

Alric grunted, in a very un-lady like fashion, in greeting.

"Well then, first things first… Ms. Alric, just exactly where do you come from?" asked Mustang, looking at the girl's misty golden eyes.

She looked up at the ceiling.

* * *

"Originally I came from somewhere up in North-East Amestris…then I got in trouble with the wrong crowd and ended up behind the Doors of Truth…" she said pensively.

"What do you mean by, 'the wrong crowd'?" asked Alphonse suspiciously.

She locked eyes with the 15 year old teenager.

"The homunculi, they wanted me to help them out with some of their plans, I refused, they got mad. They 'killed' me, simple," she said.

"So, you know what they're up to!" said Alphonse excitedly.

Edward shook his head.

"Alric doesn't know exactly what they're up to; she was 'disposed' of before she could figure it out," he sighed.

"Actually," she said, glancing towards Edward, over the sofa, "If it's not too much to ask," said Alric, looking up, "I'd like to know where the latest massacre was," she told the office.

"W-What?" spluttered Sergeant Major Fuery, looking up from his work shocked.

"Why would you want to know that?" added Breda, poking his head in.

Alric turned her strange eyes towards them.

* * *

"The Homunculi have a tendency to start wars for their own benefit. Depending on the causes of the war, where it took place, and so on, I could probably add a significant amount of information as to what I already know," she smiled grimly at them.

"I guess you could say that most of the civil conflicts are happening in the East presently…" said Lieutenant Hawkeye, looking thoughtful, "What with Lior, and Ishbal…"

Edward noted that Alric was no longer paying any attention. She looked worried.

"H-how many people died in each one?"

The Colonel looked at her.

"That information is not permitted to be told to a civilian…" he said.

"Then I'll join the army," she said simply.

"Ms. Alric, please don't do anything rash like that," started Hawkeye.

"How many alchemists have disappeared in the past few years?" asked the teenage girl.

"I fail to see the relevance…"

"HOW MANY?" she roared, looking uncharacteristically angry.

The Colonel sighed.

"That information is also restricted to the Fuhrer, the General, and the State Alchemists."

"Colonel…" started Alphonse, pointedly not looking at Edward. This didn't escape Ed's notice however.

"No Alphonse, as much as I'd like to, as a State Alchemist I can't tell her. Neither can Fullmetal, nor you," sighed the Colonel.

"WHAT!" roared Edward, looking as angry as Alric was a few seconds ago.

* * *

The Colonel winced. Bad move. Edward didn't know that Alphonse had become a State Alchemist. He was definitely going to get it…It wasn't even his fault! Alphonse had actually demanded him to organize everything for him, and had even threatened his personal safety! But knowing Ed, he, Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist, was going to get the blame anyway…

"IS THIS TRUE?" he roared, glaring at everyone in sight. Only Alric seemed unfazed by the Fullmetal Alchemist's anger.

Seeing Al's look of shame, Ed shot a murderous look towards the Colonel. This was probably all his fault. The bastard had probably talked Al into it…

"WHY YOU!" roared Ed, moving forward, but unexpectedly, found Alric grab his arm. Her gaze had turned icy, spelling dread in his mind. He had only seen her this way once before, and it wasn't good…

"Now's not the time for this," she growled, struggling to keep herself under control, "I need to know how many alchemists are missing!" she snarled.

The Colonel seemed unfazed, and looked miserably tired.

"I can't tell you…if you were a State Alchemist…"

"Fine. How do I become one?" she snapped.

"A-Alric-san…" said Alphonse shocked.

"I need to know that god damned number, and I'll do whatever it takes to do so," she told him simply.

Mustang sighed tiredly.

"It's not that easy. It needs to be done in front of the Fuhrer, and unless there's a recommendation, it takes months to organize…" he mumbled.

"Colonel," said Alphonse, "_You_ could make a recommendation…"

"WHAT?"

"Get this thing on quickly," continued the 15 year old, grinning.

"B-But…" stammered the Colonel shocked by the normally demure boy, being so forward…

"I healed your subordinate. It's what you alchemists are all so fond of, Equal Exchange," said Alric, crossing her arms.

"But what can you do besides heal people?" asked Alphonse, "Both Nii-san and I, even the Colonel, we're all combat specialists…even if you were to succeed, you'd be assigned to medical posts…"

Ed smirked.

"Healing isn't the only thing Alric does," he said proudly, "On the other side, she was the number one Guardian around…"

"Guardian?" echoed Breda.

"Police officer, soldier, serial killer…Essentially you kill people," shrugged Alric.

"Oh…"

"Colonel?" said both Elrics in unison, looking at him pointedly.

"OH alright, but make sure you pull through okay?" growled Mustang irritably.

* * *

_I really should be working...instead of formatting things..._


	5. Chapter 5

**KIDS OVERRUN MILITARY**

Young Alchemy prodigies join elite organization at an alarming rate!

Alric looked up at him.

"I take it that news travels fast around here…" she commented tossing the morning paper onto the table.

"What did you do?" asked Edward, sitting down across from her on a chair.

"Nothing special, transmuted things from the floor…blew them up," she muttered before glancing up at him.

"Your Fuhrer's one of _them_," she said.

Ed nodded. The Colonel and Alphonse had informed him of such…

"It appears so…He doesn't recognize you?"

Alric snorted at that.

"I doubt he was even born yet…he's different from the others. Not like me, but he's not entirely like them," she sighed.

"I didn't sense anything at first, but then I noticed the aura around his eye…" she muttered sadly.

She probably thought she was out of touch…

They were in a hotel room where the four of them were staying, not wanting to put pressure on Mrs. Hughes. Winry and Alric in one room, Ed and Al in the other. Presently, Winry was out shopping and Al was carrying and paying for the bags. Ed, Winry had said, was far too popular for his own good, and would attract unwanted attention. Which Ed, unfortunately, interpreted as a slight as to his stature and had reacted furiously.

Now alone with Alric, it was easier to speak about things concerning her relationship to the Homunculi. With no one else, but Ed in the room, she had removed the long-sleeve jacket that she usually wore, to reveal her heavily alchemy arrayed arms. Her right arm, in blood red, was marked similarly to Scar's. Her left arm was not so heavy in terms of design, but the Uroborus was on her shoulder was evident.

Alric had been Wrath, one of the Homunculi over 200 years ago. However, she was the only one that had not been created by Father. Edward knew little of the man the Homunculi owed their existence to, but Alric had refused to speak any more of the man, other than that she had no blood relation to the 'old miser'.

Unlike the others, she was partially human based. Her body was entirely created, but unlike the others, she had a soul…in a matter of speaking.

Ed had deduced from what she'd told him and what he had observed, that Alric had been a successful human transmutation. While it was impossible to revive the dead, it was possible to transmute those who had not gone through the Gate. Alric had said so herself, that she was one such transmutation. But the reason why someone would transmute her still eluded him. Alric did not have the person intended's soul, but she was closer to human than any of the other Homunculi in his eyes.

* * *

"Hey, Elric, are you okay? You kinda spaced out just now," said Alric, peering into his eyes.

"No…it's nothing…" he waved dismissively, "So, how are you getting along with Winry?"

Alric looked at him blankly.

"Not too well. Is there some bad connation with this arm of mine?" she asked, raising her right hand.

"She kinda just stared at it, when I was changing, then ran into the washroom and cried for the whole night…" said the golden eyed girl, expressionless.

Edward sighed. He should've thought of that…

"The serial killer called Scar…the Ishbalan, his arm is tattooed in that same manner," said Edward, looking down, "She only found out recently, that her parents…The Rockbell Doctors, were murdered by him, during the war," he looked up towards the ceiling now, observing the way light came in, "They had just saved his life, and he killed them..." he whispered, remembering the look on Winry's tear stained face, as she held the gun, her hands trembling, torn between wanting to kill that red-eyed man, and her own morals.

"I see…" said Alric, not really paying attention, "So," continued the girl, looking over at some other papers on the table. "What kind of crappy name do I have to carry around now along with this damn watch?" she asked, with a huge smile on her face.

"They're not _all_ that bad," started Edward, but Alric cut him off, still grinning.

"The Sewing Life Alchemist? What kinda crap name is that?" she asked, "At least you have a half-decent one Fullmetal," she smiled.

Edward leaning over picked up the envelope on the table, and slowly pulled out the first sheet in it. Quickly reading it, he stared at the page surprised.

"What?" asked Alric, getting up trying to read the page upside down.

Edward glanced towards her.

"Nice to meet you Scarlet Alchemist…" he said, struggling not to laugh.

If Alric was a normal girl, she'd have turned bright red. But then she was a Homunculus, so the blank stare he got, seemed normal…

"How does that have anything to do with blowing things up? See, I told you that these names were downright dumb," she said, spreading her arms wide for emphasis.

"It does make sense," countered Edward, "The Crimson Alchemist, Zolof J. Kimblee, used the elements of the human body to create explosives. Since there's a stigma attached to the name, they chose another shade of red," he said.

"Still sounds pretty dumb," she muttered, staring up at the ceiling.

"Well, you've been assigned to Colonel Mustang's group as combat specialist…" he continued, reading through the rest of the paper, suddenly he looked up at her.

"By the way…since when was your first name Jade?" he asked, pointing to a paragraph on the page.

"WHA-?" exclaimed Alric, snatching the paper from him.

"T-That…That god damned Colonel!" she growled, ripping the paper to shreds "He's SO going to get it…" she swore.

* * *

_Yay! I'm slacking off during Careers..so don't get mad at me!_


	6. Chapter 6

_Later in the Day…_

He could almost see the radiation coming from Alric's head, as she stomped into the room. She probably wasn't taking this entire party thing very well. Using their influence as State Alchemists, as well as some of Central Headquarters' funds, Ed, Al and the Colonel, had rented out the entire gigantic party space of the hotel for a grand total of eleven people, in order to welcome the new Scarlet Alchemist into the group.

"Alright, the guest of honour is finally here!" proclaimed Major Armstrong dramatically, indicating a fuming Alric.

"You've got some bloody explaining to do Mustang…" growled Alric, glaring daggers at the Colonel.

Coolly, the Colonel met her blazing glare, and answered without a tremor of fear or unease in his voice.

"About what, Ms. Alric?" he asked.

"What the hell is this about my first name?" she demanded.

Ed, Al and Winry all flinched. From seeing the girl's reaction earlier, this was not going to go well…

* * *

The Colonel sighed expressively.

"For a beautiful young maiden such as yourself, the name Alric does not qualify as a surname. As well, it sounds like someone just took Ed and Al's last name, hacked off the 'E', and put an 'A' because it's the only vowel that sounds good there," explained the dark haired man.

"So…why a name like 'Jade'? It sounds weird," asked Edward, wondering where the man got a name like that, "That sounds like someone took the name Jane, chopped off the 'n' and put a'd' there," he added with a smirk.

"The name took me a while to come up with, I had to go through my entire database just to find one like that," answered Mustang, "It's the name of a rare green stone found only in Xing..." he smiled.

Alric looked slightly less irritated now.

"Well, don't expect me to answer to that. Throughout my entire life, I've only been called two names," she said, turning towards Edward.

The party wasn't very heated, as there were only eleven people there, and it mainly consisted of them all telling jokes, and swapping stories.

After about two hours, Havok, who was presently using a cane, came up with an idea.

"Hey! Alric hasn't sung a song yet!" he shouted to everyone.

Ed nearly choked on his drink. Spluttering, he glanced hurriedly toward Alric. Her misty golden eyes grew dark and cloudy. If there was any indication as to her mood, it would be her eyes. Everything would be fine as long as they didn't change any more…

"What?" said Alric, her eyes narrowing.

"Every new addition to the office has to sing a song. Initiation you see," explained Hawkeye, waving her champagne glass.

Edward glanced at the trigger-happy woman. Her face was decidedly red…was she drunk?

"I don't sing," growled Alric.

"Come on!" laughed Alphonse, slapping her on the back, "you can't possibly be a worse singer than I am," laughed the younger Elric brother.

"Al…are you _drunk_?" asked Ed, staring at his brother incredulously.

"When I said I don't sing, I meant it," said Alric.

"If you don't know any good songs, it's alright," said Mustang, diplomatically, "Falman here recited poetry instead," he said, indicating the Warrant Officer, who was presently laughing his head off at a joke Fuery had told him.

"It's not that…it's just as a Ho-" started Alric, before Edward hurriedly interrupted her.

"Alric, it's not that bad, you know a couple of songs. Like the ones Teresa-san had…" he said, looking at her pointedly.

She shot him a glare that clearly said: _You'll pay for this later_, as she stood up.

"Alright…Fine…Don't blame me if you need healing after this," she growled, taking a deep breath.

* * *

Ed sat in wonder. He had never known that Alric could actually sing. Singing did not go under his category of 'probable things a Homunculus can do'. Everyone else sat in absolute rapture at the pure round tone of the blonde girl's voice. No one really understood the language she was singing in, other than Ed, but he only could hear bits and pieces of words that he recognized. This wasn't a song that he had heard before. Just hearing the strange language that all songs in the world behind the Gate were sung in caused him to reminisce about his year back there. During those countless times that he and Alric, as Guardians had busted into a bar, yelling at people to stick'em up, someone had always been singing in that melodious language. Ed hadn't a clue what they had been singing about, but judging from the locale, it probably wasn't very good.

Then as quickly as she had started, the song was over.

Alric looked around at everyone's faces suspiciously.

"Are you guys alright?" she asked, looking at Al straight in the eye.

Everyone started protesting immediately, all at the same time. Major Armstrong had tears streaming down his face, as he stood up and hugged the blonde girl.

"That was most moving, Ms. Alric! Never, in the long and glorious history of the Armstrong family have I ever heard anything so beautiful!" he cried.

Alric suddenly appeared about a foot away from the Major, looking exceptionally shocked.

"Are you _sure_ you people are all right?" she asked, looking at the Major in a sort of shocked, horror.

"To Ms. Jade Alric, the Scarlet Alchemist!" said Mustang, raising his glass.

"To Alric!" chorused everyone else, as they drank.

* * *

Ed didn't know what was wrong with him. Suddenly everything had started going fuzzy, and he was seeing weird, unscientific things. For some reason, he couldn't think straight, and he couldn't seem to remember whatever it was he was doing… He opened his eyes, to find himself leaning on Alric's shoulder, as the golden-eyed girl, was dragging him up the stairs.

"Alric?" he said surprised, looking up at her face.

"Wha-Where am I?" he asked, everything looking exceptionally fuzzy to him.

"I'm bringing you upstairs. You're intoxicated," she growled irritably.

"No I'm naawt!" drawled Edward defensively, "I _only_ drank one glass of champagne for the toast…"

"Then you almost passed out," said Alric glaring at him, "If you get drunk so easily, don't drink anything," she muttered.

"You drank a lot too…are _you_ drunk?" he asked, looking up at her.

"Homunculi don't get drunk," she sniffed, reprovingly, "Humans do, and _you_ are."

This was so annoying. The great Fullmetal Alchemist Edward Elric, was completely drunk, and perfectly incapable of standing up by himself. Alric decided that once the idiot was sober, he was _so_ going to pay for it. Once, for being drunk, and making her have to climb up all these stairs. Twice for making her get up and sing. And thrice for just being an idiot.

Thinking about what sort of punishment she'd give him made her pace quicken. Then, just as soon as she got the door to his room open. Edward unexpectedly stumbled, and grabbed the collar of her uniform, causing her to fall on top of him.

Just as she was about to get up, Ed grabbed her arm.

"You're beautiful…" he whispered, kissing her full on the mouth.

* * *

_Holy crap...i can't believe i just wrote this bit... for those weird people out there...it is NEVER going more graphic than that...  
_


	7. Chapter 7

_Okay, lots of stuff happens here...and since I am the worst person for transitions...You'll see...Oh and to OrangeKittyAlchemist-Sony... Just so you know, I DID finish my Careers work before posting stuff...And then I finished all my Chemistry and Spanish stuff...mostly...i just didn't write stuff into my lab book yet... _

* * *

"Nii-san?" said Al, looking over at his older brother concernedly. Ed looked unusually pensive, staring out the window at the falling leaves. 

It was really beautiful outside…The leaves had all changed colour and were beginning to fall in a beautiful whirlwind of red, orange and yellow…Edward looked lost in his own thoughts.

"Nii-san," said Al, shaking his brother's shoulder exasperatedly. His older brother had been doing things like this for about a month, ever since the two of them had gotten themselves their own apartment.

"W-What?" stammered Ed, startled at being shaken out of his thoughts.

"Nii-san," said Al reprovingly, "What's with you these days? You're always staring out into space, and you've been acting weirdly!"

Edward Elric looked at Al surprised at first, before his face relaxed into a soft smile.

"Sorry…I've just been thinking…" he trailed off, staring back out the window at the leaves blowing in the wind.

"Thinking about what?" asked Alphonse, pulling a chair over to sit across from him.

"How glad I am to be home…" he whispered, smiling towards his little brother.

For a while the two of them just sat there, staring out at the maelstrom of colours dancing in the wind. Then Edward sighed heavily.

"I never noticed…" he said, tying back his hair in a ponytail, "Just how beautiful this world really is…"

* * *

Envy yawned loudly, earning him a disdainful glare from Wrath. 

The stupid brat was so full of himself…probably from being around those stupid human generals all the time.

"So how is everything going?" asked Pride from the shadows.

Envy shot a look at the other Sin. Pride never did anything useful…he had a bad habit of only coming when he wasn't needed, and disappearing when he was.

"This is the new list of potential human sacrifices. This year has turned out rather successful, with the return of the Fullmetal Alchemist," said Fuhrer King Bradley, handing Father a list.

The man who had created all of them scanned the piece of paper.

"Scarlet Alchemist, Jade Alric…who is this?" asked the man.

"An alchemist who tried to open the Gate. Blonde girl, golden eyes, about fifteen years old, she was recommended by the Flame Colonel," said Wrath.

"I've assigned her to his district, to simplify things when they're needed," he said quite proudly.

"Fine, so can I go now?" asked Envy, getting irritated.

Father nodded silently.

That had to be the most useless meeting ever…

* * *

Edward kept glancing towards Alric, who was going through some of the papers, filing them away. She hadn't really spoken to him since the party. The blonde Homunculus made little to no acknowledgement of his existence. He understood. She probably hadn't thought that that was going to happen between the two of them…Neither of them had. 

"Alric," said Mustang, looking up from his papers, "What did those numbers have to do with anything?" he asked.

Alric looked up with a blank expression from her filing.

"What?"

"The number of alchemists who have vanished in recent years, the reason why you became a State Alchemist," continued Mustang, boring into her with his dark eyes.

"That? It gives me an idea of how far they've gotten in terms of everything," she said dismissively, going back to the filing.

"So?" asked Alphonse, looking at her.

"One year, give or take a bit," she said, picking up another bundle of papers.

"Til' what?" asked Hawkeye, bringing in another stack of documents for the Colonel to sign.

Alric, didn't seem to be paying attention anymore to what they were asking. Instead, she seemed quite absorbed with checking the name on a file folder.

"One year until this country is wiped off the map…" said the blonde Homunculus, dumping a pile of papers into the folder.

"W-WHAT?!?!" shouted everyone in the office, even Havok, sticking his head in from the other room.

"I could be wrong," continued Alric breezily, "It could be sooner than that, but there hasn't been a war in the North yet, so there's still hope," she said.

"But don't let that get to you," she smiled.

"What are you going to do about it?" spluttered Mustang, horrified.

Alric looked thoughtful.

"Actually there isn't really much we can do about it, short of fighting all of the Homunculi, killing Father and overthrowing God," she said her face growing darker, "So, when the time comes, we run for it," she said smiling brightly.

Edward stared at Alric. Something had changed about her. She was a lot more easygoing than before. This past month had changed her…He smiled softly to himself. She really was…human…

* * *

If it hadn't really happened, Ed would have thought the next sequence of events to be straight out of a comic book. 

The window suddenly shattered, as a body dove through the glass, rolling onto their feet.

"L-LING?!?!" exclaimed Edward horribly shocked upon seeing Ling Yao, the heir to the throne of Xing.

The black haired teenager was wearing his usual red Xing-style jacket and his strange black slipper like things…in fact he looked unchanged after a year.

"EDWARD?!?" said Ling shocked to see the blonde alchemist, "I heard you were dead!" he exclaimed grinning before suddenly looking serious.

"Well, save the time for reunions later," growled Ling, drawing his sword, and pointing it at Alric.

"We've got a monster to kill," he said. Edward felt suddenly crestfallen.

He had forgotten…Ling and the other people from Xing were all able to sense the difference between a person and a Homunculus…

"I'm counting on you to back me up Edward," grinned Ling, readying himself to fly at the blonde girl.

"W-What do you mean?" stammered Havok, stepping in front of Alric, "Alric's not a monster…"

Edward saw the subtle shift in Alric's eyes. He shook his head, pleading with his eyes.

Alric simply returned his gaze, she smiled slightly at him.

"Alric is it…" scoffed Ling, "So that's the name you've taken Envy?"

Alric's eyes suddenly hardened, and she glared at Ling.

"I am not that bastard palm-tree," she growled.

"If you aren't, then who are you, Homunculus?" demanded the Xing Prince.

Alphonse stared at Ling in shock.

"I-is she?" asked Al, his voice shaking with confusion. Ling nodded solemnly.

"No doubt about it. She has the aura of many multiple lives…" said the black haired man. Hawkeye pulled out a pistol and pointed it at the girl. Mustang pulled on his ignition gloves. Only Havok and Edward did nothing.

"W-What are you people talking about?" spluttered Havok. Edward was staring blankly ahead in shock.

"She's a monster. Like the one called Lust…" said Mustang.

"Is-is this true?" Havok turned to Alric.

She looked at him sadly with her cloudy golden eyes.

"Would you believe me if I told you?" she asked in response.

Ling threw a kunai into Alric's throat.

"See for yourself," he said, gesturing towards the girl.

Slowly, Alric pulled the knife out of her neck. Havok stared in horror, as the injury immediately healed itself. The blonde girl jerked her head to one side, making an audible click.

"Nice throw," was all she said.

* * *

_HA! It'll be a while before the next update. I wrote out alot of stuff, but I have to type it all up, edit, and read over it all by myself...and I have to worry about Chem, Bio, Math, English and Spanish projects for the upcoming fortnight (two weeks) So...just hang in there a little bit longer..._


	8. Chapter 8

_I was kind of on a writing spree, during a homeworkless weekend, but my internet died, so I didn't update stuff...yet...so yeah..

* * *

_

_Why was this happening? Why? Why did things have to fall apart here?_ Edward felt himself just staring dumbly ahead. He had always known that it would eventually come out that Alric was a Homunculus…He had been lying to himself, thinking that this wouldn't happen…

8.8.8

"You've got some explaining to do, monster!" growled Havok.

Alric's misty eyes looked more clouded than ever.

"After all that's happened…people don't change after 250 years," she sighed sadly. She looked around at everyone's hard, angry faces. She took a deep breath, then let it out. She was staring out the window, at the clouds floating by with the wind.

"I came through the Gate with Edward, sacrificed 400 of my lives to open it, used 3 of them to heal my ribs and lungs from the impact, 65 to heal Ed's leg, 275 to repair the lieutenant's spine, and 23 to patch up my throat…" she whispered to herself.

"You could kill me easily now," she announced to them, "I think I'm down to only 20 of my original life," she said looking them all in the eye.

"I've never lied to you people…You all just never asked if I was human…" she added.

"So Homunculus," said Ling, sheathing his sword, and looming up into her face.

"What's the story of your creation?"

"Meaning?"

"What population are you made from?" he growled.

Alric unexpectedly laughed.

"I see…you can detect auras, just not the difference between me and those bastards…" she chuckled.

"Don't make light of humans!" snapped Ling angrily, raising another kunai.

Suddenly Edward was in front of Alric.

"Alric is human!" he shouted at them.

"Edward…you saw what…" started the Colonel, but Ed shot him such a glare, that the man shut up.

"I know…I've known ever since I met her on the other side of the Gate," he said his eyes shut tight, "But she's different than those guys…"

"How so?" asked Hawkeye, flicking the safety off on her pistol.

"Please, do enlighten us," added Havok angrily.

"Nii-san…" whispered Alphonse shocked.

Nii-san…he knew she was a Homunculus? He had known, and hadn't told him, or Winry? Why didn't he tell him?

"Alric is a perfect human transmutation," said Edward.

"But…"

"She was the transmutation of a person who was already alive. Her powers come from consuming incomplete Philosopher's Stone and her own life energy,

I'm not sure of the circumstances but at some point or other the one controlling the Homunculi pushed her through the Gate when she threatened to ruin their plans…"

"Ed…"

"Everything I've just said is what I've come to with my own reasoning. Alric never spoke of herself to me," he glared at everyone, daring them to doubt his words.

"Ed…" whispered Alric.

"Please…tell me what happened…" he asked her quietly. She looked at him surprised, then she lowered her gaze.

"Alright…I'll tell you…"

8.8.8

Her name was Aura. That's all I know about her. She caught a terrible disease while on vacation with her mother. Her father, a professional alchemist, misinterpreted a letter. Believing that his beloved daughter Aura was dead, he attempted human transmutation.

Transmutation of someone who is already dead is impossible, because that person exists on the other side now. But Aura wasn't dead, so the transmutation succeeded. Now unfortunately, there were two Auras…Her and the fake look-alike…me.

Aura being sickly, that man decided to transfer Aura's soul into my body once she turned 15. Until then, I was raised for about a year in that household…They knew that I had my own personality…that I was conscious, that I understood what they wanted from me…

Then a week before Aura's birthday, _they_ found me. They killed the alchemist and took me in. They told me that I wasn't alone…then _that _man named me Wrath.

8.8.8

They sat there listening to her story. Alric spoke in a dead monotone, as if this had all happened to someone else.

Edward glared out the window. Why did people think in such dumb ways?

"They…they knew you had feelings and they just…" stammered Alphonse through grit teeth. His fists were shaking with anger.

"He dabbled in God's domain, and didn't even think of the consequences?!?" roared the 15 year old boy.

"Immortality…" breathed Ling loudly.

Alric looked up at him.

"Not quite. Even with this body it's not quite perfect…" Alric laughed, "Geez, I'm quoting Greed…I can still die, just not of old age…I think…" she added pensively.

"You think?"

"I'm different than they are. The less lives I have, the more human characteristics I get…" she answered softly.

"Alric…why did you leave them?" asked Mustang.

Alric sighed, and looked away from them.

"Don't get the wrong idea. It wasn't for the sake of humanity, I left for purely selfish reasons…" she whispered.

"So then...why?" asked Edward.

Alric was silent for a long moment.

"Ed…when…when you asked me…if-if that was my first time…I told you yes…"

Edward felt his cheeks burn. Why was she talking about that?!?

"Because…you were the first person who I wanted to be with…" she continued, oblivious to his obvious embarrassment. Edward felt something wrong with Alric's tone of voice. There was an element of a sob within it.

"Edward!""Fullmetal!" "Nii-san?!?"

Ling, Roy and Alphonse all stared at him, in awe, surprise and shock, respectively.

"I…she…I was DRUNK!!" stammered Edward, waving his arms wildly. Boy was he going to get lectures from Alphonse about keeping secrets…

Hawkeye, slowly lowered her gun, and motioned for Havok, Breda and the others to put their weapons away.

"The reason why I turned against them…why I left…was because…because…" stammered Alric, her voice shaking.

Ed stared at the ground, his fists shaking. He knew what she was trying to say…

"Which one…?" he asked in dead tones.

Alric turned her face up towards all of them. Her face was streaked with tears.

"It…it was Envy…" she whispered, hugging herself tightly, as she sank to the floor, crying silently.

* * *

**Yeah...okay...it was hard to come up with a better reason...so...umm...yeah...**


	9. Chapter 9

* * *

She sat there, staring at her hands.

The clouds drifted across the cold night sky, lazily without a care in the world. The moon and stars were out tonight as well…it all seemed so peaceful…

She found her mind wandering across the gaps of her memory, silently digging up things she wished to forget…

She had caused so much destruction…so many people had died because of her; so many people had gotten hurt because of her actions…

If all she did was cause pain, what was the point in her existing?

Slowly, she looked over her shoulder.

"What is it?" she asked Alphonse Elric, who stood behind her.

The grey-eyed boy seemed unsure of himself, and wary of her. He probably still didn't trust the Homunculus.

"Did…Did you and Nii-san really…?" stammered Alphonse, looking pointedly at his feet.

She nodded.

"Oh…" was all he said, as the younger Elric turned around to leave.

"Alphonse…" she said suddenly, causing him to stop in his tracks, "Do I…Do I look like a monster to you?" she asked softly.

The sandy-haired fifteen-year old stared at her. Why was she asking him? He stared at the girl he had come to know as Alric, Nii-san's friend and savior…and a Homunculus.

Slowly, he shook his head.

"Why is that?" she asked, looking him straight in the eye, "I'm a created human…I wasn't meant to exist, and Abomination to the natural world…"

The girl's cloudy golden eyes moved off of him, to stare at the floor.

"What do you see in me that's human?" she added softly.

"You act on your emotions…"

"Everything acts on the instinct to live…" she laughed sadly, "Even a Homunculus..." she whispered.

Alphonse stared at her. To him right now….she looked like a girl, lost and confused…trying to find her reason and place in the world.

_She doesn't know what she is, why she is here…or if anyone needs her to exist…_

"You're human…" said Alphonse slowly, "you're human, Alric…because you can cry…"

* * *

Edward felt very, very annoyed. He was stuck in a room, with Ling, the Colonel, and four other men, all of whom, were all grinning like idiots, and chuckling to themselves.

"Would all of you morons stop laughing to yourselves?!?" roared Edward. If they weren't on his side, they'd probably all be dead by now…

"Never knew you had it in you Boss," said Havok, lighting himself another cigarette, while chuckling.

"SHUT UP!!" yelled the Fullmetal Alchemist, looking very undignified, "AND DON'T CALL ME SHORT!!!" he roared.

"Edward…don't tell me that you seriously…" stammered, Ling, trying not to laugh. But that being completely against his nature, he compensated for it with an enormous grin on his face.

"Shut up!" growled Edward, turning bright red, "It's none of your business!" he said, throwing a file folder at the grinning Xing prince's head.

"So…what are we going to do about her?" asked Falman, "it's not like we can all just forget the fact that she was one of the enemy…"

"Alric is human," growled the Fullmetal Alchemist, glaring at everyone in the room.

"Despite the circumstances of her creation, she's human through and through," declared the 16 year old golden haired teenager.

Colonel Mustang just stared at the boy for a moment. Time really did go by quickly. He could easily bring back to mind the image of an 11 year old boy, with a bloody leg and arm stump sitting in a wheelchair. _Edward's grown up_…he thought sadly, looking at the golden-haired young man in front of him now.

"Enough," he said finally, "What we need to worry about now, is what Alric said about us having only a year before Amestris is wiped off the map…" he turned towards the still fuming Fullmetal Alchemist, "Edward, do you have any idea what it could be?" he said, as coolly as he could.

Edward looked at him for a moment, before sighing heavily.

"No. All Alric knows is that something catastrophic will happen to Amestris within the next few years, involving multiple wars…" he looked at everyone in the eye sadly, "You have to understand where she's coming from. She didn't care about what the general human population thought. She had no one before, and these people had her believing that she wasn't alone in the world. That was enough for her…" he glanced towards the window.

"Alric once told me…that being alone… is the most painful thing in the world…knowing that no one wants you, or needs you to exist…that whether you live or die doesn't matter to anyone…"

An uneasy silence filled the room.

"Well…on that happy note…" said Ling grinning foolishly, "What now?"

* * *

Winry got off at the station, looking for a familiar face. It had been two months since she had seen the brothers, and this would be the first time she saw their apartment. She couldn't help but smile. For once, she was coming to visit them, without an enormous toolbox to fix Ed's arm. She had brought some wrenches anyway, just in case they needed something to be fixed…

_Let's see...they said that they might not be able to pick me up, and that they'd send someone to get me…_

She hoped it wouldn't be Major Armstrong again. She had been stuck listening to the major talk about his family for an hour before she had gotten to see Alphonse. Then again, she hoped it would be someone who could carry all the luggage she'd brought.

"Ms. Rockbell," said a vaguely familiar voice. She turned around to see the girl Alric, dressed in the military blue, standing behind her. Winry couldn't help but stare at the girl. She looked so much like Ed…even her golden eyes were similar to her childhood friend's. But there was something…strange about her.

"Oh! Alric," said Winry, slightly dismayed.

"Where's Ed and Al?" she asked the Scarlet Alchemist.

"Alphonse is doing State assessments, and the idiot… I mean Edward," she corrected herself, "is arguing with the bastard. The colonel, and Ling," she managed to finally say.

Winry looked at her surprised. She sounded a lot like Ed just now.

"I've been around him for more than a year. It's natural for some of his manners to rub off on me," said Alric, as if reading her mind, "And I can't read minds either. The question is written quite clearly over your face," continued the other girl, indicating for Winry to move ahead of her.

"There's a car waiting for us," explained Alric, "I've already secured your luggage, and if we leave immediately, we can pick Alphonse up from Headquarters."

Winry's eyes widened. Last time it had taken an hour to find all her belongings…

"How…?"

"I'm fast," was the joking reply.

As they reached the car, Winry saw that it was true. All her luggage was in, and on the car. But there seemed to be something missing.

"Who drove the car?" she asked.

"I did," answered the golden eyed girl, opening the door for Winry.

"Are you even old enough?"

"Quite. In fact, I exceed the legal driving age by 200 years," said Alric with a straight face.

Winry giggled.

"I guess you _do_ have a sense of humour!" chuckled the sixteen year old automail mechanic.

* * *

Edward sat there. Bored.

He could sense the gloom hovering above everyone's heads. For once, the normally overly exuberant and energetic Prince of Xing looked slightly tired. They'd been arguing for hours, and presently no one had anything left to say.

Then Alric came in.

"So…any progress?" she asked. The looks that the others shot at her, told her enough.

"I don't see what your problem is," sighed the Homunculus girl, sitting down, "It's a simple enough plan," she said, looking around at everyone.

"We tried this before…it didn't work," muttered the Colonel.

Alric shot him a glare of her own.

"I didn't come here for sarcasm," she growled, "You need to know what's going on, so capture one of them, and ask!" she said exasperatedly.

"Last time, none of them came, and Al, Winry and I almost died," explained Edward, patiently.

"Winry? Why was she there?" asked Alric, surprised.

"She, uh…Followed us…" said Edward nervously.

The look on Alric's face showed quite clearly, that she was not amused at all…

"You said that Ling would catch the Homunculi before they got involved in your fight against this serial killer, Scar," said Alric, looking thoughtful.

Ling nodded.

"That's when we discovered that the Fuhrer was a Homunculus," said Mustang.

"He was probably the only one in the area…I doubt the others could mobilize themselves that quickly…" said Alric dismissively. "This time, however, there's more than one of them here."

"How do you know that?"

"I detected one while I was driving Winry to your place," she told Edward, "From what I remember, it was probably either Envy or Pride," she said half to herself.

"So the odds of us catching one are greatly increased?" said Ling, smiling hugely.

"Yep. Most likely, one of them is assigned to tailing you guys, because you know a lot, and you're precious lives…"

"So we distract Bradley, and catch the other one!" said Edward, sitting up straighter.

"Problem is…we don't know where Scar is…" said the Colonel, looking at some papers.

Alric smiled.

"I've already taken care of all that…Scar's definitely here in Central,"

Ed clearly recognized the look on her face that said: 'Don't ask.'

"Alright then…" said the Fullmetal Alchemist, stretching.

"Time to go make an idiot of myself…" he sighed, pulling on his signature red jacket.

"Actually…Ms. Rockbell, is quite eager to see you…" said Alric, rolling her eyes, "It'll take some time to organize everything, so you should head back to your place…"

Edward stared in shock at Alric. Was she actually saying this?!?

"Don't look at me as if I'm crazy, GO!" she growled at him, "And you guys!" she shot, glaring at the other men in the room, "Don't even _think_ of laughing," she growled menacingly, before leaving the room.

After Ed left, Ling turned to Mustang.

"Are all the women in Amestris like this?"

"No," sighed Mustang, "Ironic that the only people Edward is truly afraid of…are all women…"

"Same goes for you," said Havok, smirking at the Colonel.

Roy Mustang twitched, and shot his Second-Lieutenant a glare, much to the amusement of everyone in the room…then Hawkeye walked in.

* * *

Okay. So almost nothing productive happens in this chapter...but I can guaratnee shouting matches in the next one! 


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey look! I actually formatted it before uploading! Well just as a heads-up, I might not update for a while, with real report cards coming in, and tests galorezz...but I'm actually ALMOST done Through the Gate...just that I haven't put any of those extra 30 pages that I wrote up yet. I will...eventually. **

* * *

"Hey Winry, nice to see you!" said Ed, giving the automail mechanic a gentle hug, which she returned enthusiastically. He'd grown taller since she'd last seen him, even though he was not nearly as tall as Al. The difference between the brothers' heights was the bare minimum of difference necessary to be noticeable. Ed was probably fuming over that right now. Probably embarrassed by his lack of stature…At least he was taller than Winry now…

"So, how's everything?" she asked, beaming at the brothers.

Ed looked sheepish, and Al had the look of when he was hiding something…

"You're not going to be doing anything _dangerous_ are you?" she asked, looking at them suspiciously.

Their immediate protests confirmed her suspicions.

"You _are_!" exclaimed Winry, whipping out a wrench from her pocket.

"It-It's not what you think!" protested Al, "We don't know if it'll be dangerous or not! It's just a mission!"

"What on earth have you been doing since I left?!" said Winry, irritated.

"Nothing really, in fact the only exciting thing that happened was Ling crashed through the office window, and then we all found out that Ed and Alric-san…" said Alphonse rapidly.

"What?" said Winry shocked.

Ed shot Al a look, and said quite simply.

"Al…RUN!!" he yelled, taking off at a surprising speed.

"COME BACK HERE!! JUST EXACTLY WHAT DID YOU SAY?!?" roared Winry, chasing after them with a wrench.

.8.8.8

Alric sat on top of the roof, watching the scene unfolding below. Ed's immediate retreat from Ms. Rockbell seemed quite unlike him. He was probably scared of her, from the stories Al told her of Ms. Rockbell's reactions to Ed's busted automail arm…he had every right to be scared…

"Hey, aren't you going to help them?"

She watched the brothers run, with a slight smile on her lips.

"Nah…she won't deal them any real damage, and if I got in the way, I'd probably make things worse," she said, not looking back, "I've been meaning to ask you…Why can you sense the auras of a Homunculus and these people can't?"

"Well, why can you?"

"I lived amongst humans for the beginning of my life. I felt a difference, and determined what that was…On top of that I had to know if Envy was around or not, and who he was at the moment…" she answered not looking away from the street below.

"You still don't trust me," she said, glancing towards the Prince of the Yao Clan of Xing and his masked retainer.

Ling grinned apologetically.

"Can you blame me? You lived with them, but don't know what they're planning…Seems suspicious on your part," he smiled.

"I hear you're looking for the Philosopher's stone…The Devil's Research project…"

"Immortality," assented Ling.

"Don't…it's not worth it."

"What?!?" demanded the prince's retainer.

Alric kept her eyes on the Elric brothers below, running from the Rockbell girl.

"The basis of this world is Equivalent Exchange. The Philosopher's stone goes against this law simply by the things that define its existence…What is lost in order to gain it…is far more precious than what is received…" she whispered softly.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Ling, crouching down next to her.

"Y-Young Master!" said his retainer shocked.

"The reason why us Homunculi have the aura of multiple lives…" said Alric, looking him straight in the eye, "The Philosopher's Stone…its ingredients are live human beings…"

The Prince of Xing looked unsettled, and for once, he wasn't smiling.

"That's why I have a strange aura…All of us, except for King Bradley, are like this…"

"L-Live human beings…"

"As a side note…the people used in creating the stone are trapped between the Gates. Their bodies and minds decay, and will never live again once the energy of the stone is used up…" she turned back to the scene below.

"That's why you shouldn't want such a thing…"

8.8.8.8

He glanced around furtively for about a minute. The orders were clear. Dispose of the Scarlet Alchemist. Colonel Mustang's group was becoming too large of a political force in Central City. With four Nationally Certified State Alchemists, all famous ones at that, things were becoming worrisome for some higher-ups. Getting rid of Jade Alric would lower morale and remove some of the man's powerbase. As the newest, and least well known, it would be easier to eliminate her for it to not seem suspicious. State Alchemist deaths/ murders were not unheard of nowadays, what with Scar and all. Besides, she was a girl. How hard could she be to kill?

8.8.8.

A timid knock at the door got her attention. Alric paused for a second, trying to collect herself, and concentrate before opening the door.

"Yes, Ms. Rockbell?" she said, looking straight at the blue-eyed girl in front of him.

"How-How did…"

"Good intuition," shrugged Alric, "So, why are you here? Ed's place is just around the corner…" she started saying. When Winry spoke up, stammering.

"Di-Did you and Ed…" the automail mechanic couldn't finish her question.

Alric looked at her expressionless, before sighing heavily.

"I guess you'd better come in…" she said, gesturing towards the inside of her apartment, "This might take a while…"

Jade Alric's home was not what Winry would consider normal. The place was relatively neat and tidy, except for a low table and desk which were literally covered in books, military documents, doodles, and maps. One of which seemed to be a map of the country with a transmutation circle drawn on it. Probably used as a scrap sheet of paper.

"Have a seat…" said Alric, motioning toward the couch and chairs, sitting down herself, on a chair.

"Did you and Edward actually…"

Alric sighed and nodded.

"Who told you that?" asked the golden eyed girl tiredly, "I know it wasn't Ed…He's not the type to go around talking about that sort of thing," she added, looking at the automail mechanic.

"It was…Al told me…by accident…" whispered Winry, "When did…"

"Night of the party…Ed was drunk…" answered Alric, looking at Winry expressionlessly, "Trust me…I didn't expect that to happen…"

Suddenly, tears sprung unbidden to Winry's eyes.

"HOW COULD YOU?!!" she screamed at the golden-eyed girl.

Alric just watched her in silence.

"You knew I loved him!!" she sobbed uncontrollably.

"Actually…I didn't, until five minutes ago, when you showed up at my door…" sighed Alric, standing up, "I'll make you some tea…"

"I don't WANT tea from _you_ of all people!" snarled Winry through her tears.

Alric ignored her, and proceeded to alchemize some boiling water.

"I understand how you feel…" said Alric tonelessly, pouring out two cups.

"No you don't…there's no way you could…" started Winry.

"SHUT UP!" roared Alric suddenly.

"Humans…always so self-centered…Do you honestly think, that you're the only one who feels like they've been betrayed?" raged the golden-eyed girl, "If you do, I seriously think that I'll have to beat some sense into your head!"

Winry suddenly felt an abysmal fear of this girl. Her cloudy golden eyes had become stormy, and she felt like something had awoken within the girl.

Then Alric took a series of deep heaving breaths.

"Sorry about that…it's just that sometimes…" sighed Alric, struggling to keep her voice steady, placing the cups of tea in front of Winry.

"Sometimes…I get mad…remembering what happened to me…" she said, holding her head.

Winry just nodded dumbly, still not recovered from that sudden outburst.

"I'm not exactly the person you should be talking to about this…" said Alric, taking a sip from her cup.

"If it makes you feel any better…I'm a bit jealous of you…" whispered the golden eyed girl.

"Having known him for so much longer than I have…"

Alric drained the rest of her scalding hot tea in a gulp.

Winry, slowly took a sip of the tea Alric had given her. Somehow, it made her feel better…

Suddenly the phone rang.

Alric growled wordlessly.

"Damn bastard Colonel…" she muttered, picking up the phone.

"Alright jerk-face, what now?!" she shouted into the machine. Suddenly, Alric's expression changed.

"Oh. Hi Ed," she said normally.

Winry stood up.

"Yeah, Ms. Rockbell is here. I thought you were the Colonel, the bastard's been calling me about _that_ case…We talked. No, no…Worry about your own damn self Elric!" said Alric irritated.

Winry wondered what on earth those two could be yelling at each other about…

"Just you wait till I get there! You are _so _going to get it!" roared Alric, slamming the phone down.

Winry stared at Alric in shock for a moment.

"Umm…so what was that about?"

"The idiot got worried…I'll walk you over," said Alric, pulling on her military jacket. Her voice suddenly normal.

She wondered if Alric ever changed out of the uniform, or if she had a life outside of the military.

"I don't," said Alric, answering her unspoken question, opening the door, "I have no home, no family alive in this world. I was an adopted kid…then that family betrayed me…" she said tonelessly.

"Alric-san…"

"We should go now," was all the Scarlet Alchemist said, as they headed out down the street.

8.8.8.

He spotted the target leaving the building. He tailed the teenage girl. She seemed to be walking with another girl, the one who had showed up around 9 p.m. that night. The two of them weren't talking to each other, so he assumed coincidence of passage. Pity, it was a bad night to go out walking…

As they turned the corner, he walked up behind them. Slowly drawing a pistol from his pocket, he raised it up and fired.

The sound of a gunshot reverberated through the night air, as well as a scream. He'd recognize that voice anywhere. He and Al both traded looks, before bolting out the door and down the stairs.

"WINRY!!"

There was a pool of blood expanding beneath the golden eyed girl's head. Her hair was soaked in blood, her eyes were unfocused and cloudier than usual. Winry stared in shock before screaming. The man who had shot Alric pointed the gun at her.

"I'm sorry Miss…but I have to do this. Orders," he said sheepishly, as if it could justify pointing a gun at her and threatening to kill her.

She stared at the barrel, all coherent thought gone. Only a blank fuzz remained in her mind…

"Boy… I must be losing my touch…" sighed a familiar voice tiredly.

The soldier, suddenly started shaking wildly.

"W-What?!" he stammered, the gun wobbling in his hands.

"Hey, that was dangerous, you jerk," groaned Alric, rubbing her blood-stained head, "You really shouldn't point those at people ya know…" she continued, her eyes glittering dangerously.

"Th-This is impossible…!" whimpered the man.

"Nothing's impossible," grinned Alric, "Because you're _so_ dead right now…" she said, cracking her knuckles.

As if on a sudden reflex, the man pointed the gun at Winry, his hand steady.

"If you move, I'll shoot her!" he said, panic streaming through his voice.

Winry saw Alric's grin falter for a bit, but she suddenly started grinning even huger than before.

"You were already intending to shoot her as soon as you killed me," smiled Alric, "I may look like a kid, but I'm not as stupid or weak as you seem to think I am…" the State Alchemist smirked.

"Just exactly how _fast_ do you think I can move?" she asked, suddenly vanishing from Winry's view.

8.8.8

"Nii-san…" started Alphonse, as they ran towards the three people on the road.

Edward nodded, as they dashed towards Winry and Alric.

"Yeah…that's Alric's power…" he answered, drawing a pistol.

"By rejecting all atomic bonds between every molecule within her body, she can travel across great distances within instants, and reassemble herself within a split second…The result is impossible, and unmatchable speed…" he grinned.

The only reason why such a thing was possible was because a human was defined by a physical body, a mind and a soul. Alric was a Homunculus, so her body was artificially created, but her mind and souls were entirely her own. Even if her body disappeared, it would be possible for her to rebuild herself, if necessary, and only if she had enough energy from the Philosopher's stone…

8.8.8

Alric suddenly appeared in front of Winry, shielding the other girl from the gun's barrel.

"Just try and shoot me," she grinned. In a panic, the man pulled the trigger, hitting Alric straight in the heart. Winry screamed again, as Alric's dead body fell against her.

Suddenly, in mid-air, Alric pulled herself back up again.

"I guess old age really is catching up to me," sighed the blonde girl, still shielding Winry.

"FREEZE!!" shouted two familiar voices. Winry looked up relieved to see Ed and Al pointing guns at the man.

"Drop the gun!" ordered Edward, "Drop it or I swear, I'll kill you," he snarled, releasing the safety on his gun.

The soldier looked hopelessly confused, and slowly he dropped the gun. Al quickly stepped behind him and knocked him out with the end of his pistol.

8.8.8

"Sorry 'bout that Ms. Rockbell…but as soon as you saw me die once, I guessed that it didn't really matter anymore…" said Alric, sheepishly, pulling off her blood-stained jacket before sitting down.

"Alric, you seriously push yourself too hard…" sighed Edward, brushing away vigorously, with soap and water, at the blonde girl's blood-stained hair.

If Winry wasn't in shock right now, from all the blood on Alric, she'd be the one washing Alric's hair…Not that he didn't mind running his hands through the girl's impossibly perfect soft hair again…

"How…What…What are you?" stammered Winry, staring in shock at Alric.

Alric sighed.

"I'm a Homunculus…an artificially created human body…" she said, looking at Winry straight in the eye.

"You…you're immortal?" stammered Winry.

Alric exhaled softly.

"No…I can die, just as easily as you saw back there…I just have multiple lives," explained the blonde Homunculus gently.

Alric was being extraordinarily polite…Probably because Winry had no clue what she was talking about.

"The easy way to put it…is that I'm not human…Biologically, I have no parents, no genetic explanation to why I look like I do…I am a fake person, to put it bluntly…" said Alric.

"Perfect Human Transmutation, is more precise," corrected Ed, irritably.

"B-But…you said that…"

"I was created from a person who was already alive…" answered Alric, "Although that _was_ over two hundred years ago…" she said pensively.

"There, all done Alric…" said Edward, combing her wet hair back.

"Ed…can I talk to you for a bit?" whispered Winry softly.

Alric stood up, and pulled on her blood soaked jacket.

"I'll be leaving you guys alone for now…I'm sorry, Ms. Rockbell…" added Alric apologetically, as she left the room.

8.8.8

They sat in awkward silence for a moment.

"Ed…are you and Alric…" started Winry.

Edward nodded stiffly. His child-hood friend who, at one point, he'd been hopelessly in love with...was crying.

"Damn…I made you cry again…" he growled softly.

"Winry…Listen, you have to understand, that I loved you, and I still do…just not the same way I care about Alric…" he said awkwardly.

He had always had a problem expressing his emotions. Anyway, he didn't know if Alric even reciprocated his feelings. They had just had that one night together, and that was it…But it didn't really matter to him, if she didn't feel the same way, than that was that…

"Yeah, because she's not even human…" sniffed Winry, wiping away her tears.

Edward felt a flash of anger pass through him.

"Don't _ever_ say that again…" growled Ed menacingly.

Winry looked at him shocked. He had never spoken to her in that way before…

The look on Ed's face clearly showed his own shock with himself.

"Look…Winry, I'm sorry…it's just that…I've been spending so much time trying to convince Alric that she's human…" he said, pressing his hands to his forehead.

"What?" asked Winry, unsure if she had heard that properly.

Edward nodded sadly.

"When I first met her…Alric was nothing like she was now…She was cold, rude and…alone. She didn't see herself on the same level as human…she saw herself as being less than human, unworthy of existence…because no one really cared about her. There were people she thought had cared about her…but then…" Ed trailed off there.

"What?" pressed Winry, gently, putting a hand on Ed's left knee. She still couldn't get over the sensation of feeling warm flesh instead of cold steel after so long…

"Before Alric was put beyond the Gate…About a hundred years ago…The people she thought were her family…" he paused heavily for a moment. "One of them raped her…" he said finally.

"_Do you honestly think you're the only one who feels like they've been betrayed?!?"_

"_Sorry…it's just that sometimes… I get mad…remembering what happened to me…"_

Ed looked at her with one eye.

"She mentioned that, didn't she…when you asked her about us?" said Ed softly.

Winry shook her head.

"She didn't…say it so bluntly…" said Winry.

Another awkward silence settled between the two. Thankfully, the phone rang.

"Hello, Edward speaking," said Ed. His telephone manners had greatly improved over the past few months, noted Winry glumly.

"Oh…so that's what that guy was up to…Yeah. Everything's ready for _that_ thing? Alright…See you soon Al."

Ed hung up the phone.

"Ed…just, what are you all doing?" asked Winry, "I know it's dangerous…but, I…I…" stammered the girl.

Suddenly Ed gave her a hug.

"I'm sorry…We've made you worry…" he whispered into her ear.

_**You're always fighting something by yourself**_

_**I can't be that thing by your side, but...**_

_**If maybe, just maybe, I had the chance to become a comet**_

_**I would surely rush to fall from the sky**_

* * *

**Credits for the Song goes to Houkiboshi by Younha**** and the nice people on who translated it...  
**


	11. Chapter 11

Edward pulled on his jacket as he started to leave the office.

"Alright I'm going now…" he said, waving goodbye to everyone in the room.

"Oh, Fullmetal there's something I need to talk to you about…" said the Colonel, standing up from his enormous stack of papers to go through.

Edward rolled his eyes. He was probably just trying to have an excuse to slack off…

"Concerning your relationship with a co-worker…" he continued, with a perfectly straight face.

Ed felt his cheeks redden slightly. The Colonel was damn lucky that Alric had left early today…If she heard this she'd have kicked him out of the top window of the building…

"I hope that you're not being distracted during the workday, because of Ms. Alric…and that you know that workplace…canoodling, is strictly out of line…" said the Colonel, his look suggestive.

Ed turned bright red with embarrassment and extreme irritation.

"I understand…" he said, turning to leave.

"When I say that, I mean no long trips to the bathroom, or any obvious displays of…extreme affection…" continued the Flame Alchemist, a smirk on his lips.

Ed felt his blood pressure rising. Being in the same room with the Colonel had a tendency to do that. Edward decided that working with the man was definitely a hazard to his coronary health…

"WILL YOU SHUT UP!!" he yelled exasperatedly, "WE HAVEN'T _DONE _ANYTHING!!!" he said.

Ed could swear that some of his blood vessels had started popping. What he said, however was true…As much as he really cared about Alric, they hadn't talked at all like they used to on the other side of the Gate, since that night… Alric had only said that she was slightly uncomfortable being talked about behind her back by the other men in their workplace, and that was all she had said in reference to what they had done together…

"You know…workplace relationships tend to not really work out…" remarked Havok, lighting himself yet another cigarette.

"Eventually you get to the discussion of what means more…the girl or the job…" he said, reminiscently.

"Yeah…which is why you're always being dumped…" snickered Breda.

Havok shot him a glare.

"Well at least I have a girlfriend!" he retorted.

Edward sighed internally. Just his luck to be stuck working with such love-obsessed freaks…At least they weren't as bad as Sergeant Broche…

"So, I take it you understand completely Fullmetal, that I don't want you and Ms. Alric, erm…" he said, as if struggling for the word.

"I understand," said Edward, a grin forming on his lips, "I'll try my best to not be like you in the slightest!" he said saluting and hightailing it out of there, before the Colonel processed what he had just said. Maybe it wasn't that bad working in that office…

8.8.8

Alric gave a small nod to the Colonel, signaling that Ed and Al had begun their confrontation against Scar. And so it began.

"He's in Sector 17! ARGH! He's got me!!" moaned the Colonel, plugging his nose, into the transmissions set.

"AHHH! This is sector 3! Heavy…casualties…don't know if I can…" yelled Alric, into another.

Distracting the entire Central military reserves was a criminal offence, but with Master Sergeant Fuery's know-how, it was going to be impossible for them to be caught.

Alric began to grin after awhile. At first she had been a bit peeved at being given such a seemingly benign task, but this was actually quite fun…

"This is Sector 26, I repeat, do _not_ fire! There are two State Alchemist's in the area, do _not_ fire! I repeat do _not_ fire!" ordered Mustang.

Alric wondered which one of the Homunculi they'd catch. From what she could remember, there were at least 3 of them usually stationed here in Central…But with what she had sensed, there were now most likely 4, including the Fuhrer and eliminating Greed from the list. Most likely, the one that would show up would be the Fuhrer, or Envy disguised as the Fuhrer.

Either way, if it was one of them, they'd learn the true meaning of God's Wrath…thought Alric, clenching her fist tightly, as she continued to shout out false emergencies.

8.8.8

"WIRE!!" shouted Ling, running forward.

"Right!" shouted Edward, immediately transmuting the railroad tracks into strong metal wire.

"The problem is that he regenerates too fast, so annoying," explained Ling, wrapping the wire around the Homunculus. "But this time, with the wire, as he's rebuilding himself, the wire will press against him, binding him tight!" grinned Ling, as he stood on top of their prize.

"Now it's time to…RUN LIKE HELL!!!" shouted the Prince of Xing, heading towards the get away car, with the slowly regenerating Homunculus.

"H-HEY!!" shouted Alphonse, as if he didn't know who the squinty eyed man was.

Al was actually quite good at acting. In normal situations he was hopeless in terms of hiding his emotions. Probably came from being an expressionless suit of armour for five years…But when it was required from him, he could act quite convincingly.

"GET BACK HERE YOU SQUINTY-EYED JERK!!" roared Edward after him, noting the expression of one of the onlookers.

They were being watched…

8.8.8

Mustang looked towards the blonde girl, removing his headset.

"They've done it," he said, unplugging their hardware from the communications system.

Alric sighed with relief.

"Most likely they're going to be watched, so watch yourself when you get them…" she sighed, getting up.

"Where are you going?" asked Mustang, confused as he pulled on his jacket.

Alric had a faraway look in her eyes.

"I knew this place looked familiar…" she whispered, half to herself. Suddenly she looked back at him.

"I've got something I need to check up on…Oh, just in case, ram something through those red points on their bodies. It will prevent them from regenerating," she added, stepping outside.

"Red points?" echoed Mustang thoughtfully.

Alric pulled back one of the white gloves she always wore to reveal a tight black fingerless glove, similar to Envy's underneath with a large red dot and line on it.

"These. They indicate the flow of our regeneration power. Obstruct it, and we can't regenerate too quickly…think of it like the circulatory system," she sighed, seeing his look of confusion.

"I've got to go…" she said, suddenly vanishing from sight.

8.8.8

They were a great distance away from the big city, which was good. Who knew what could happen now? Although they did what Alric had said, by ramming sharp stakes through the red dots on the Homunculus' body, they weren't taking any chances.

Ling was overly pleased with himself. He and his bodyguard, Ran Fan, had managed to keep King Bradley occupied between the two of them, and then had made it in time to capture this one.

"You couldn't believe what a pain that guy was!" laughed Ling, with that stupid grin on his face…

They'd been here for about five hours, waiting for Alric, the Colonel and the others to come. Ed felt exceptionally irritated, having to listen to Ling brag. It was almost as bad as listening to the recently departed Lieutenant Colonel Hughes going on about his three--four year old daughter, or 'super dad' as Ed had dubbed him at one point. Alric was pretty sure it had been Envy who had killed him.

"_The palm-tree is always on clean-up," Alric had said, polishing a handful of the blades s he kept hidden around. "He's a shape shifter, what would you expect? Turn into someone else, and have all the blame put on them…" she had gotten a faraway look in her eyes… "He probably turned into your friend's wife before he killed him…Just to enjoy seeing the look of pain on his face…"_

Ed hadn't told the Colonel about that conversation he had had with Alric on the other side. Roy Mustang would probably barge out and try and take Envy down single handedly…Wouldn't they all love to … thought Edward grimly, flicking a blade out from his sleeve, and putting it back.

It had become a habit, picked up from Alric to carry at least twenty different pieces of sharpened metal around at all times, hidden in his clothes. Somehow, he found it oddly comforting to have a blade around. You never know when you might need it. True that it was dangerous, especially if you forgot where you had put one, but then again, this habit had saved his life at least a hundred times on the other side…

"Sorry for the wait," said Mustang, entering the room, pulling off his jacket, and tossing it to the side.

"We had a bit of a delay…" he said, giving a meaningful head jerk towards Alric, who was busy cracking her knuckles.

"Alright, let's start the interrogation!" said Alric, a grin on her face. The smile didn't quite reach her eyes. She was probably wondering which one this was…

"He's over here…we did as you said, and put stabbed some things through those points," said Ling proudly, as he led them towards the shed where the Homunculus was being kept.

"How's that for a Homunculus?!" grinned the Xing Prince.

8.8.8

Alric stared expressionless for a moment, before heaving an exasperated sigh.

"Do-Do you know which one _this_ is?" asked Alric looking tiredly towards them.

"What? Is something wrong?" asked Ling, looking slightly bemused.

"We might as well give up on interrogation…" she sighed, not paying any attention in the slightest to him.

"What? Why?" demanded Alphonse, looking over at the Homunculus, looking to see if there was anything wrong with it.

"That," said Alric, pointing at the tightly bound Homunculus, "Is the biggest, IDIOT, in the world, next to Sloth…" she announced.

"His name is Gluttony…and as his name suggests, there are three things that go through his mind. What Lust and Father say, and Food…and that's about it…" groaned Alric.

"So…he knows nothing?" said Ling, horrified with the realization that all his work had been completely useless.

"He can barely remember his own name half the time…" explained Alric, "The moron probably has a few concepts in his brain like 'the promised day' crap that old geezer spouted…No clue what that meant," she said looking towards Ling.

Edward felt slightly dismayed. They had been so close to actually finding out the true extent of the Philosopher's Stone conspiracy…All they knew was that the Homunculi intended to repeat what happened in Xerxes all those years ago…But why, was the question…

"Maybe not everything's lost…" said Edward, looking thoughtful.

"How is that, boy?" asked Ling's female retainer, and body guard, Ran Fan.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SUPER SHORT SHRIMP WHO NEEDS TO BE…" Ed started to shout, when Alric, stepped on his foot. Hard.

"OWW!!" he shouted.

"Spill it," ordered the golden eyed girl.

"Most likely, the others are aware of Gluttony's disappearance…so another Homunculus could be trying to find him right now…"

Ling nodded, catching onto Ed's idea, started grinning foolishly again. Why did that guy try to smile so much? It could be just creepy sometimes…

"And then we beat that one down into submission, and ask _him_ what's going on…" he grinned. Alric sighed.

"You know, that judging from the numbers that they have left, and who they are…whichever one comes, they're going to be a helluva lot tougher than this idiot…mainly because they have brains…" she sighed looking at them all, "But we don't have much of a choice…Please…don't any of you die on me, okay?" she asked softly.

Ed smiled at that.

"Yeah…it's a promise…"

8.8.8

"HUH?!? What the hell were you doing anyway?!?" roared Envy, spitting in Wrath's face. "You let that fat moron get captured?!?"

The stupid eye-patch freak just stared at him coolly.

"As I am Fuhrer, I couldn't just stop them and say, "'Unhand my brother'" he said blandly.

"Where was Pride? Wasn't he supposed to be with you two?" demanded the teenaged Homunculus.

"Pride was nowhere in the vicinity…"

Damn…stupid Pride, he was beginning to develop some pretty bad habits, showing up when he wasn't needed, or not showing up at all, when he was…

"Damn it…I take it that that means I have to go pick up the idiot…" growled Envy, getting up at a run.

* * *

**Oh boy! Plot development! Chapter sizes are dramatically increasing...and I've actually made an attempt at formatting the paragraphs while typing everything up!**


	12. Chapter 12

**I'm not so evil as to leave a semi-cliffhanger especially since I've already written that part up...But this is seriously going to kill my computer... So updates like this might not be so common.  
**

* * *

They seemed to be doing a lot of this recently…Waiting that is. Ed drained another cup of coffee. Alric was sitting outside on the other side of the door with a faraway look in her eyes.

"_This was a village…" she had said softly earlier, "I razed it to the ground a hundred something years ago…"_

She had been doing this lately. Blaming herself for everything she had done in the past, as Wrath. Ed hadn't had much of a chance to talk to Alric, or at the least, be alone with her, and get hit over the head for irritating her. Ever since the assassination attempt on her and Winry, she had distanced herself from them, going around the city, looking lost and confused every day.

Ed had followed her once, and observing the places she went to. Alric looked so lonely whenever she stopped somewhere. Whether it was in an alleyway, in front of a house, or in the middle of a street, she would get this sad look in her beautiful golden eyes. He had heard her apologize to a wall as well. She had stared long and hard at a heavily marked wall, and had traced her hand along some lines.

"I'm sorry…"she had whispered, before leaving quickly.

He'd have to ask her eventually…He had a rough idea for what she was apologizing for-The countless number of people who had died all those years ago, when she worked under Father as Wrath… He stared at the door for a moment. She was just beyond that thin barrier…alone, keeping all her pain to herself…Edward knew the feeling, she probably just didn't want him to worry, as usual…

8.8.8

She stared up at the night sky, watching the clouds drift across the stars. How long had it been since she had stared up, alone at the sky? Not very, most likely. She had been spending a lot of her time alone recently. She kept wondering whether everything would've been better if she had just died, all those years ago…She'd caused so much pain and suffering to countless people, whose names she didn't even know.

Alric looked down, staring at the ground in front of her. She had been going back to the places she remembered, to ask forgiveness from those she killed, but she knew better than that. After what she'd done, she was undeserving of any such kindness…

"Well, well, look who's here…" drawled a terrifyingly familiar voice. She felt her stomach clench, as she slowly looked up, her eyes wide with fear.

"E-Envy…" she whispered, her voice shaking.

8.8.8

"If it isn't the little traitor Wrath…" he said, shifting out of the form of a black horse.

She couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. She could barely even think straight. All she felt was the extreme urge to run away.

"Of all people, _you_ weren't someone I was expecting to see here, of all places," grinned Envy, walking forwards. All her confidence vanished in a split second. She was plunging down a bottomless pit of absolute terror. She forgot that Ran Fan was just a few metres away, up on the top floor. She forgot that Mustang was in the barn, with Gluttony. She forgot that Ed and Al were right behind that door.

For the moment, she was all alone, with Envy right in front of her. She wanted to run, but her legs wouldn't move.

8.8.8

"Why the hell did you come back?" asked Envy, looking straight at her with his purple eyes, a nasty grin forming on his face. Wrath had been such an easy person to manipulate even way back then. For some weird reason or other, the girl had an absolute terror of being unwanted as an individual.

"It's not like you're needed anymore. The plan is in its final stages already..." he grinned, enjoying the girl's frozen look of wide-eyed terror as he got closer and closer.

Strange that she hadn't changed at all physically over 200 years…She was different than him and the others; he thought that maybe she'd age or something…

She just sat there, staring at him in absolute fear. She was probably remembering that night… He licked his lips.

"But, damn…you're still as cute as ever…" he said, reaching out to touch her face.

8.8.8

When he reached out to touch her face, it was as if something snapped within her.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!!!" she screamed, swiping at him with her right arm.

From the force of the blow, compounded with the destruction array, she essentially cleaved him in two.

"WHOA! Temper, temper!" exclaimed Envy, as he rebuilt himself, "You know, I have no idea why you came back. We don't need you anymore, we have a new Wrath. Father has no use for you, and I don't…"

Suddenly a blade flashed through the air, to imbed itself right in Envy's throat.

8.8.8

"Just shut the hell up before you say something else you'll regret…" growled Edward, readying another blade. He glanced out of the corner of his eye, and noted that Mustang, Ling and Al had all come out as well. They must have heard Alric scream…

"Hey…Five on one isn't fair…" grinned Envy, pulling the knife out.

Ling stared at Envy in shock before clasping a hand over his eyes.

"God…that just looks _wrong_!!!" he exclaimed, waving his other hand as if trying to ward something off.

"What?" asked Ed, slightly perplexed by Ling's behaviour.

"T-That outfit…It's just…He's a man, and he's wearing a _skirt_!!" shouted Ling, covering his eyes.

Suddenly, knives flew out from the top window of the building.

"You monster! How dare you dress so indecently in front of his Highness!!" shouted Ling's masked retainers, jumping down to the ground.

Edward was surprised to notice that they didn't seem to care that this was a Homunculus they were yelling at…they seemed more concerned about the affront to Ling's person…

Envy stared dumbfounded at them all for a moment.

"Great…Seven on one…that's hardly fair now, is it?"

Alric seemed to have regained her composure, slightly, and threw at least ten knives at the green-haired Homunculus.

"Yeah it is, we have to put up with looking at your ugly face!!" she growled.

Envy stared expressionless at her for a moment, before his eyes suddenly darkened.

"_What_ did you call me?"

_Shit…bad move…_ thought Alric. This was not going to be pretty…

8.8.8

"ENVYY!!!" shouted a joyous sounding voice.

Everyone whirled around, and all barely managed to dodge the enormous ball of rolling fat.

Maybe Gluttony did have some brains after all…Either that or he was just plain dumb…remarked Alric grimly. He hadn't broken out of the wire, he had just rolled. The fat idiot must have smelt Envy, and decided that Envy would know what to do…

Alric knew full well that Gluttony was perfectly capable of breaking out of those wires by himself. It was just a matter of intelligence.

"Envy…I'm stuck!" complained Gluttony.

Envy punched him on the head hard. Alric's remark about his looks, momentarily forgotten.

"Stick your arms out," ordered the skirt-wearing Homunculus exasperatedly.

While Gluttony struggled to comply with Envy's orders, Edward started asking questions.

"Why are you here?" he asked.

Envy glanced towards him out of the corner of his eyes.

"I'm just here to pick up this guy…So…what's _she_ doing with you?" he said looking at Alric, who flinched under his gaze. Envy smirked satisfactorily at that, which made Ed's blood boil. He didn't want to know what that bastard had done to Alric to make her like this…The Alric he knew wasn't scared of anyone, or anything…seeing her so vulnerable just made him mad. Glancing at Al out of the corner of his eye, he noted that his brother thought so too.

"She's just here, on _our_ side…" answered Alphonse, curling his hands into fists.

"Wow Wrath…you've fallen pretty low after a century or two…Siding with the humans?" whistled Envy, still grinning, his eyes fixed on the golden-eyed girl.

"I hope you didn't tell them anything that you're going to regret, because it won't go down well with Father…"

A spike rammed itself straight through the Homunculus's stomach.

"I told you to shut up…" growled Edward, looking up from the ground.

Gluttony looked confused.

"Envy…can I eat them?"

"No…you'll just get killed," sighed the Homunculus.

"Well…I guess that's all for now…" he said, winking mischievously at Alric, "Don't worry, Wrath, Father will hear of you…I _never _forget _anything_," he smirked, before suddenly vanishing.

Alric stared in paralyzed shock for a moment, before falling over unconscious into Ed's arms.

"I didn't expect her to have such a bad reaction to seeing that palm tree bastard again…" he whispered, stroking her hair, sadly. It had been written all over her face. Alric was absolutely terrified of Envy. He'd be having a talk with her about this a bit later, he supposed.

Mustang came towards him slowly, his voice even.

"Edward…let's go back…" he said softly.

"Yeah…" mumbled Ed, motioning for Al to help him carry Alric.

"Don't worry Ed," said Mustang reassuringly, "We'll make them pay…"

"That…I can guarantee…"

8.8.8

"Wrath?" echoed Father, listening to Envy's report. The green-haired Homunculus nodded again.

"Yeah, the traitor Wrath, the one who took care of the entire southern region…" he said, just to refresh the old man's memory.

"W-What did she look like?" he asked.

Envy's expression changed significantly. _YOU're the one who insisted on making her one of us! You could at least remember the annoying brat! Albeit a really cute brat…_thought Envy, exasperatedly.

"Blonde hair, golden eyes…" Envy started to list, but he was interrupted once more.

"Isn't that the Elric boy?"

Envy rolled his eyes mentally. Description most likely wouldn't help…

"She looked like this…" he said, his voice changing as he morphed into the younger Homunculus' shape.

Wrath had worn the same outfit he did, with some slight modifications. He was pretty sure he hadn't left a single line out of the transmutation array that had been tattooed into the blonde girl's body. After all, he had seen the whole thing…

Father suddenly sat up at the sight of Wrath's image.

"Th-That array…" he said, slightly shocked. Envy shifted back to his usual shape.

"What? Is there something wrong?" he heard Pride's voice whisper from the shadows above. Envy shot a glare in his sibling's general direction. Stupid suck-up…Pride was Father's favourite, and he never let Envy forget it…Even when Wrath was there, no one ever really paid much attention to him, back then, it was Greed…because he was naturally better looking than Envy.

'_Why don't you show your true self? Envy the freak!'_

It still burned, whenever anyone made reference to his true form…Wrath had understood that, hundreds of years before…but she just hadn't been interested in him…

"Envy, did Wrath tell them what we're doing?" Father asked suddenly.

Envy looked surprised. Father hardly ever talked this much to him…

"No, the little bitc- brat doesn't know what we're doing, she never knew," he said correcting his speech, remarking his creator's raised eyebrow.

"She took orders without any questions?" he heard Pride's voice say slightly in awe.

"But then again…she was an overly trusting child…" continued the other man.

"Is there something wrong?" asked Envy, looking at Father concernedly.

The old man had a worried, thoughtful look on his face…Usually he was expressionless…

"This could be bad…" he whispered, "This could be very bad…That array is dangerous…" he murmured to himself.

"She could ruin everything…"

* * *

**I can't believe I wrote some of this stuff...the things I will write to make plotline plausible...shudder**


	13. Chapter 13

I've been told that Havok is spelt with a 'c' in both manga and anime. Well I'm sorry, but I'm sticking to the 'k'. It was spelt inconsistently in every fansub I've ever watched, and every scanlation I have ever read, so that's that. And anyway, if his name really was Havoc, then I'd have to rename Fuery, Fury, who's reasoning behind my spelling is similar to that of Havok's, like Falmans...sort of, but that's just based upon the pronounciation of 'r' in Japanese...i.e. Gray vs. GLAY...( I still think that it was typo that they just decided to make up an excuse for...)

* * *

"DAMN it ED!" roared Alric, berating him. "If you're going to even _think_ of taking on the Homunculi, at least deal me a killing blow!" she shouted at him, disintegrating the knife in her side.

Training…All of them would be involved in this, they needed as many talented people as they could get, who knew enough about everything…Bringing it to a grand total, of twelve people, thirteen if they counted Black Hayate, Hawkeye's dog…

Alric had been using herself as sparring partner, practice target, and guinea pig for everyone's abilities, to prepare them for taking on a Homunculus. Their plan would involve everyone taking on a Homunculus, either in a large group or in pairs. On top of that, there was the monstrous horde of chimeras that guarded the hideout that had to be dealt with.

She had worked with Alphonse and his long distance combat work, along with Mustang's. Hawkeye and the other's target practice, and with Ling and his retainers' martial arts. Presently, she was working with Ed on everything. Without his metal limbs, he couldn't afford to be exceptionally reckless, and with the fact that this was a life or death situation…

So far, he hadn't even killed her once. He had dealt her heavy damage, but not one of them was a killing blow.

"They won't die from something like that!" she scolded him, "You'd be dead by now, you stupid idiot!" she growled at him.

Edward sighed tiredly. He'd been thrown around this workout area at least two hundred times by now, and had been given about three hundred lectures …

"Alric…" he started to say, when she shot him a glare. He shut up immediately. He'd given up on trying to win in a shouting match with Alric a LONG time ago…

"You're taking all of this a bit too seriously, you've been working yourself to death…" he tried to say, in his most negotiating tone of voice.

"If you can't kill me, or someone who looks like a person important to you, there is _no_ way you can win…you'll die, and the entire country will die with you…" sighed Alric exasperatedly, "I've told you that…at the least, four hundred times by now!" she glared at him. He threw his hands up in immediate surrender. Boy was he doing a lot of this recently…surrendering…

"Okay!" he said, transmuting himself another long knife.

"Good…" she said, launching into an immediate attack.

8.8.8

"They've been going at it for quite a while now, haven't they?" remarked Havok, chewing on a pen, while he and the other watched the two blonde teenagers fight.

Alric pulled off a most spectacular flip, using Ed's own shoulders to get behind him, and, in mid-air, swiped at his unprotected back. Ed barely managed to block her attack with his dagger, but then Alric, using his arm as support for her weight, kicked his head, and slammed him down into the ground.

"Yeah…" assented the Colonel. Admittedly, Alric was a spectacular fighter, using a blend of Xing martial arts, and the Amestris usual punching and kicking to fight. She was giving the Fullmetal Alchemist quite a beating…

"She's pounding him…" said Fuery, watching slightly in awe.

"The Boss isn't being serious," remarked Breda, eating a sandwich, "He's going easy…which is going to get him another lecture…"

The two teenagers paused for a moment, a short distance away from each other. They couldn't hear what was said, for the distance, but whatever Alric said, drove Ed into a berserk rage…

His movements suddenly became faster, and his attacks were too hard to follow.

"She goaded him…" remarked Breda dryly.

"Well…whatever she said, it worked…" breathed Havok, watching with renewed interest, forgetting about his cigarette.

Ed's attacks were becoming increasingly more and more random. He ducked one of Alric's punches, and came up to deal a heavy blow to her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. Then, whirling around, he slashed open her windpipe, and slammed her down into the ground, just before transmuting a large spike out of the ground, ramming itself straight through her abdomen.

8.8.8

"Owwww…" gurgled Alric, a trickle of blood coming from her mouth as her throat healed itself.

"You killed me…" she gasped, as she disintegrated the spike protruding from her, collapsing to her knees.

"I'm…I'm sorry…it's just that…" he stammered, as he came closer to her.

"Moron…that was the whole point of it," she grinned, before suddenly spitting out blood. Ed peered into her eyes concernedly.

"Alric…are you…?" he started to say when she suddenly fell backwards.

"HEY! ALRIC!!" he shouted, grabbing her shoulders.

"Shit…"she swore, "I don't have enough…" she whispered, as her eyes fogged over.

8.8.8

"Can a Homunculus die from an injury?" asked Alphonse softly.

"From what I understand, their regenerative ability comes from the Philosopher's Stone…" sighed Mustang, "Unfortunately I don't know if they can die because they can't regenerate anymore…" he said, self-consciously holding his right hand. The flame alchemy array he used was partially burnt into his hand, from his fight with the Homunculus called Lust last year.

"She probably ran below the necessary amount to heal that injury…" he continued.

The Homunculi were different than humans. When they got hurt, the injuries stayed. Their bodies didn't heal themselves…all they had were accelerated regenerative abilities. Their cells didn't divide themselves to heal injuries.

Alchemy, through the Philosopher's Stone did. A Homunculus' cells didn't die. If some were damaged, they were replaced by spontaneously created ones from the pure energy of the Stone. This explained why the Homunculi didn't age…those other than King Bradley, that is…

Alric lay on the bed, her abdomen heavily bandaged, breathing labouredly. A normal person would have been dead from such a horrific mauling of their internal organs, but it seemed that Alric had had enough energy to heal the fatal injuries, and now was left with simply life-threatening ones…Al watched her breath for a moment in silence.

"Please…Please don't die…" he whispered, thinking of his older brother.

Ed had left about an hour ago, to walk in the rain. His brother had a tendency to do that…He had said that he felt like the rain it could wash away his pain and his doubt…like when Nina died…Except that that time it hadn't really worked…Scar had happened to also be walking in that rain…and they had almost gotten killed.

Edward was really beating himself up over all this. When Alric had passed out after they she had explained that she couldn't heal herself, Ed had collapsed to the ground, in silent grief. That boy would never cry…no matter what happened, for as long as he had known him, Edward Elric, had never cried…

"_I hurt her…god…I hurt Alric…" he whispered._

"_Nii-san, it wasn't your fault! It was just a sparring match, how were you to know she wouldn't be able to heal that injury fully?" Al tried to reassure him._

"_Everything's going to be fine…" he said, in a falsely cheery voice, knowing that his voice betrayed the reality._

"_S-Sorry Al…" Edward answered softly, "but…even if it's you saying it…"_

"_Nii-san it's not your fault!" insisted Al, more urgently, as Edward stood up slowly._

"_That's enough…Al" he said, his expression invisible to Alphonse's view, walking towards the door, without so much as a look in his direction._

"_NII-SAN!!" shouted Al…_

That had been about two hours ago…and Edward still wasn't back. Mustang was shocked, that even Al hadn't been able to keep his brother here. The bond between those brothers had always seemed iron hard to him…Alric must really mean a lot to Ed, if he had even ignored his beloved little brother…Al probably understood that Ed cared about Alric in a completely different way than he cared about him…He probably also knew that, if it was the other way around, and him injured, Ed would be acting the same way…

_Alric… if you die, we won't forgive you…all you ever wanted from anyone, was to be cared about, to be needed…Edward cares about you and he needs you…You said you wanted forgiveness for what you did, all those years ago…If you die, we will never forgive you…you hear us? We will never forgive you if you die! So…just don't…_thought Mustang to himself, watching Alric's expressionless face.

8.8.8

This was it…he realized, staring at what he had just read. This was why Alric had been disposed of…The one they called Father must have discovered what the alchemist who had created Alric had written on the girl's body…Thinking logically, and back to the events in the Fifth Laboratory, and the Xerxes ruins…What the Homunculi were planning was so obvious now…why they wanted to do this was beyond him, but just their intentions explained a lot…If the final stage was put into play, with Alric there, she would ruin absolutely everything for them…

He sat down to think some more. If that was the case, then…He felt his stomach churn. The only way to save Alric would be to breach the taboo that he and Al had set upon themselves…Once again, he found himself trapped between two things…A person he loved, and his own morals…

8.8.8

It had been about four hours now, and the sun had just set…It was still raining, and Ed still hadn't come back yet…

"Colonel, should we…" Al started to say, but the Colonel's answer was blunt.

"No." he said, staring out the window.

Al just stared at him for a moment, before, changing the wet cloth they had put over Alric's forehead. It probably didn't help much, but it made him feel like he was doing something…He felt so useless…He understood his older brother's feelings for Alric, and he actually liked the change Alric had wrought in his older brother. Edward no longer got into as many fights as he used to, he had actually tried to negotiate, and he didn't get as mad as he used to when people called him short…well that depended on how blunt the remark was…Suddenly, the door opened, and a rain soaked Edward walked into Alric's apartment.

"Nii-san!" exclaimed Alphonse, walking out of Alric's room to greet his brother, when he stopped in his tracks.

"Edward…where did you get that?" asked Mustang softly, staring at the small blood red stone in the young man's hand.

Ed looked tired, haggard and worn. His eyes full of pain, and clouded…

"Don't…ask me that…" he sighed, staggering forward towards Alric's room.

"Nii-san…what did you--"started Al, but cut himself off, when he noticed that his brother seemed to have forgotten hat he was in the room…His brother looked haunted.

8.8.8

"You idiot…" whispered Ed to Alric, putting a hand on her forehead. Al and Mustang watched silently from the doorway, simply seeing what he was doing.

"You've had that array for so long, and never knew what it was for…moron…" he laughed softly, brushing her face with a finger.

"I'm sorry…if this hurts…" he whispered, bringing the stone closer to the girl's chest.

"Nii-san, what are you..?" Al started to ask, when Mustang put a hand on the sandy-haired boy's shoulder.

"Just watch him…" whispered the dark haired man reassuringly.

A soft red glow began to emanate from Ed's hand as he brought the Philosopher's stone closer to Alric. She shifted slightly, as Ed pulled back the blanket cover to put the stone on her chest. The light's intensity began to increase, showing Alric's pained expression. Everything in the room was painted over with a wash of red light. Al quickly closed the curtains. People would be wondering where such a light was coming from, and they didn't really want people to be asking questions…

Suddenly, Alric's body began to glow with a bright white light. Al could clearly see the transmutation circle marked across her body. The circle had been activated, and was emitting a bright white light. The light was becoming so powerful from the intensity of the alchemical reaction, that Al and the Colonel were forced to shield their eyes from the brightness. Through his slit of vision, he could see Alric's eyes shut tight in pain, her mouth opening in a wordless scream…He also saw his older brother holding her hand…

"You can't die Alric…I'll never forgive you if you do…" he whispered, gripping her hand with a strength born of desperation. "Don't leave me alone…Hang in there…" he said, leaning forward, and gently, putting his mouth over hers in a heartfelt kiss…

8.8.8

When the light died down, Al felt exceptionally awkward with what he saw. His older brother was holding Alric's hand and was leaning over, kissing her. He just stared at them dumbstruck, until the Colonel grabbed his arm, and began pushing him towards the door.

"I think we should just go now…" said the Colonel as coolly as possible. Al looked at him surprised. The man probably still couldn't wrap his head around Edward actually having a girlfriend, like the other guys…He probably couldn't believe it that Ed was actually right there, making out with a girl…

SLAP!

The two of them whirled around to see Alric sitting upright with Ed on the floor, with a large slap mark on his face.

"Owwww…" groaned Ed clutching his cheek.

"You're not drunk are you?" she asked, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, as she got up.

"NO!" Ed shouted incredulously.

"Good…" she said, helping him up.

"You have no idea how much of a pain you are when you're drunk…" she muttered.

The two of them seemed oblivious to the fact that they were right there in the room. Al was exceptionally confused…You'd think she'd be happy to be alive…

"Alric-san, Nii-san just saved your life! He used the Philosopher's Stone…" Al started to say in defence of his brother's honour and reputation.

He had always been the one to apologize and explain everything, mainly because Ed was too hot-headed to calm down long enough to do so himself…

"You what?" she said, whirling around to face Ed.

Ed looked away from Alric's incredulous golden gaze.

"Why…Why would you…" she stammered, before sitting down abruptly on her bed.

"God…how many?" she asked after a moment of awkward silence.

"It was at a retirement home…I explained everything…even the consequences…it was on a volunteer basis…" he whispered, the faces of those old folks flashing through his eyes.

"_You really love this girl…to be willing to do something like this…" a toothless old man said softly. _

"_Yeah…I don't know if I really should do this…she explained to me the effects and repercussions this has on the world beyond the gate…" Ed had said softly_

"_From what I understand…she cares enough about you too…if she used some of those people to get you home…It's Equal Exchange, if you ask me…" the old man grinned toothlessly at him._

"_It's alright…all of us here understand, don't we?" he said, looking towards his aged companions. All of them had nodded._

"_Go ahead young man…just don't forget to tell her how much you care about her…" he smiled._

"How many?" she repeated softly.

"There were three-hundred of them…" he whispered.

"I see…" said Alric softly, standing up.

Ed stared at his feet as her foot steps grew…louder?

He saw her shadow in front of him. He looked up from his feet, to see Alric right in front of him. She was just a few centimetres shorter than he was, so they were staring almost straight into each other's eyes. She suddenly put one hand behind his head and pulled his face to hers and kissed him. Ed's eyes widened in shock. This was something he never pictured Alric doing…ever…unless she was drunk or something, which he had yet to see…

"Just don't forget to tell her…" she smiled, echoing the old man's words to him. "I can hear them…" she explained, hugging him. "Thank you…" she whispered as she buried her face on his shoulder.

Slowly he hugged her back, wondering for just exactly _what _she was thanking him for…Was it for saving her life, or something else that he had no clue he had done?

8.8.8

Ed glanced towards his brother and the Colonel in the doorway. Al had a look of surprised shock on him, whereas the Colonel had a knowing smirk on his face.

"Mind out of gutter NOW!" growled Ed and Alric together, glaring at the dark-haired man.

"Me?" said the Colonel with false surprise, "You misjudge me, Ms. Alric, I'd never think such thoughts about what might possibly pass between you and Fullmetal…" he said with mock hurt, until Alric threw something sharp at him, which he just barely dodged .

"Nothing's going to happen," said Alric, glaring at the Colonel, "Because, Fullmetal's got some explaining to do…" she said with a meaningful look at him.

Edward groaned softly.

"Now? I'm tired…" he complained, "I just performed some major transmutations…I need sleep…" he started to say when Alphonse suddenly moved.

"Alright then!" said Alphonse cheerily, a strange expression on his face, as he walked swiftly towards the door.

"The Colonel and I will be going now!" he said, dragging the thirty year old man with him, as he left Alric's apartment.

"Hey Al! What?!" said Ed completely at a loss for words at his younger brother's strange actions. Just exactly what was Alphonse thinking? Ed headed towards the door and stuck his head outside. His brother and the stupid Colonel were nowhere in sight. He looked over his shoulder towards Alric, who was laughing her head off.

"Hey! It's NOT funny!" he said, before bursting out laughing himself.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think that Al was trying to force you to spend the night here…" Alric managed to say, laughing.

"Hahahaha!!" Ed laughed, "Yeah, I'd think so too!! There's no way he would actually…" suddenly, he stopped laughing.

"What?" asked Alric, looking at him confused.

"I just realized…I don't have my keys…" said Edward, watching Alric's expression change.

* * *

**ARGH!!! I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE I WRITE STUFF WITH SO MANY IMPLICATIONS!!!!!!!!!! sigh well...there's more of that later too...what I'll write for plausible plot line...  
**


	14. Chapter 14

**Recently, my internet has been nice to me, so I'm updating as much as possible/as I feel like**..**No fights in this chapter, but some skull bashing will be in the next.**

**Disclaimer: I so do not own FMA...if I did, the anime would've lasted longer and Ling would be in it.**

* * *

Ling sat on the roof tops with Ran Fan. Her grandfather had gone off somewhere, presumably scouting on behalf of Alric…

"Young Master…do you think that we will find the secret to immortality?" she asked after a moment's silence.

Ling didn't answer. He was lost in his own thoughts. How far had they come? Crossing deserts…collapsing in streets…breaking out of prison…fighting monsters…All this to gain immortality…

He had been searching for so long, and when he finally thought he found the answer to everything, the Philosopher's Stone, not only did it turn out to be defective, it came at a price, that he wasn't willing to pay…Talk about useless.

"Young Master?"

"Hmmm? Oh…no, I don't think so," he said, not really paying attention.

"Then why are we still in this country? Should we not return back to your kingdom?" asked Ran Fan.

"And leave this place behind?" he asked in return.

"Yes," was the answer.

Ling turned to look at his retainer straight in the eye. There was no hint of regret in her eyes.

"If we left, what kind of person would I be then? If I abandon my friends, what kind of king would I be?" he asked quietly, "If we leave, I would never be able to hold my head up again...We're staying till the end of this…" he said with finality.

"Besides," he continued, "Alric mentioned that the monsters were the ones who obliterated Xerxes…There's nothing to stop them from crossing the desert to Xing and repeating the same thing…" he said, smiling foolishly. His eyes had always been far more narrow than everyone else's…He had been told that he looked like an overly suspicious character…so he tried to smile a lot. But there were times when smiling was just not an option…

"Ran Fan…I don't want to hear you ever suggest anything like that ever again…" he said softly, his smile gone from his face.

"But…surely you don't trust that…monster…" stammered the dark-eyed girl, shocked.

Ling looked at her from the corner of his eye.

"Edward trusts her…well maybe even loves her, and I trust Ed's judgement…" he said pensively, "Besides, she's had an ample amount of opportunities to kill us all, and she hasn't…so I am inclined to trust her…" he continued.

Ran Fan looked at him incredulously.

"I'm not scum enough to abandon my friends…and I'm not so much of a coward as to put my tail between my legs and run home empty handed…" he said, half to himself, half to her.

"When this is all over…I'll find another way to become immortal…"

8.8.8

Mustang glanced surreptitiously over at Edward and Alric. He had been surprised when Al had dragged him out of Alric's apartment, leaving the Scarlet and Fullmetal Alchemists alone. He didn't think Al would actually be trying to get them to…But thinking about what a sensitive boy Alphonse was, he really shouldn't have been surprised. Al always had a knack of knowing just what was bothering Ed and vice versa, since they had always been together…

Thinking about it, after their encounter with Envy, Edward must have been worried sick about Alric's mental health. As well, presently during work, Ed seemed to be exercising extreme self control over his emotions, every time he looked at Alric. Mustang smirked to himself. The two were probably trying very hard to keep their hands off of each other…but Alric was much better in keeping that discrete.

Alphonse looked over at his brother and Alric suspiciously. He wondered if they had actually done anything when he had stranded his brother in her apartment. Nii-san had needed it. Alric and Ed, ever since everyone found out about them, had been acting so awkward around each other and everyone else that Al couldn't bear to think what sort of emotional torment his older brother had been in.

Judging from the way they were decisively not looking at him, he guessed that something _had_ happened, but there was no chance of his older brother talking about it to him. His brother always kept a lot of things to himself…whether it be pain or something else entirely. Maybe that's why he had such an explosive temper…Keeping all that emotion bottled up inside, and then releasing it all in one go. Al had never had any such temper, even when he had been a suit of armour. Alric had mentioned that Al's response in their mock battles, was far too mild to be useful against a Homunculus…But then again, Alric had admitted that she was a bit more used to fighting than some of the others. She had been trying to come up with the best possible combinations when taking on Homunculi.

Envy, Wrath, Gluttony, Pride and Sloth…those were the only five left, and there were eleven of them not counting the dog. Unfortunately, Alric also mentioned that there was an army of chimeras created by Father that would be popping in quite often. On top of all that, there was Father, and Alric had mentioned that he could perform transmutations without so much as batting an eyelid, which was going to make things a lot harder…

"We don't have to worry so much about time," Ed said to the others. They were all having a meeting in Mustang's house. "They won't be able to activate their transmutation circle, so long as Alric is in the city," he said, gesturing towards the map of Amestris, which he had drawn upon.

"How is that?" asked Armstrong admiring the Fullmetal Alchemist's transmutation circle.

"It's complicated, so let's not go into that…" sighed Alric, "I hardly understand it myself…" she muttered, giving a meaningful glance in Edward's direction.

"Well…anyway, what have you come up with Alric?" asked Mustang, looking at the girl's large stack of papers, piled upon his coffee table.

"After assessing everyone's strengths, weaknesses and abilities, I've come up with everyone's jobs once we get in…"

"How are we going to get in?" interrupted Fuery, cleaning his glasses, "We have no clue where their hideout is…"

"Central Headquarters, Fuhrer's office, there's a switch in one of the drawers that opens a bookcase, which leads straight down," answered Alphonse promptly.

Alric looked towards him slightly surprised.

"Good job finding that information, but that's not how we're going to go in…" she sighed.

"Huh? Why?"

"That way is guarded by a pack of…umm…maybe a hundred and fifty chimeras, and they attack if they don't recognize you, or if you're with a Homunculus…most likely they've been taught to kill me on sight…" she answered, "Leaving us only one other way to get in…" she said, pointing to the transmutation circle.

"Sloth, over the past few centuries has been tunnelling this… We can enter through here, and possibly eliminate him while we're at it," she said, "As well, I'm familiar with this sewer system…I used it a lot before…" she added, in a whisper.

There was an uneasy silence, as everyone digested her meaning.

8.8.8

"So…who's the lucky Homunculus?" said Ling cheerfully, looking at Alric expectantly.

She looked up at him and shook her head with a chuckle.

"You and your retainers are the only ones good enough with swords to be able to take on this new Wrath's Ultimate Eye…Mustang, I've got you against Envy…"

"What?!" said Edward surprised.

"Envy's only good at close-combat, in which he uses his shape-shifting abilities to trap the enemy. Best way to beat him would be at a long distance so that you won't be able to see who he's transformed into," she answered diplomatically.

She knew that Ed would want to beat the crap out of the green-haired freak for what he did to her, but she had instead chosen the most practical point of view. She'd probably have to have another talk with him about that…

"Ed, Al, I have you two fighting Gluttony. He's been forbidden from eating possible Human sacrifices, and from what I've gathered from what you've told me, he won't eat you two…" she said, ignoring everyone's incredulous stares, when she didn't bother to elaborate on just exactly _what _these human sacrifices for...

"You guys," she said gesturing towards Havok, Breda, Falman, Fuery and Hawkeye, "Your jobs are to cover all these guys as best you can, and to defend yourselves from the chimeras…and if you get a chance, riddle some Homunculi with bullets…Major Armstrong, I have you against Pride…if we find him…"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Pride has a habit of never being around whenever something important is happening, or not bothering to do anything when he is…" sighed Alric, rubbing her forehead, "Unfortunately, I never learned what his power was…so I'm pretty useless on that topic…be careful…" she smiled ruefully.

"I…" she said after a moment, "Once we get rid of the others, we'll go after Father…" she said, staring at the table.

"So…this is the best case scenario, right?" said Ling, looking thoughtful, "Well…what would be the worst possible scenario?" he asked.

"Absolute worst would be…us never making it there, and being killed by Sloth before we could do anything…Which isn't likely to happen," said Alric, seeing everyone's shocked faces again.

"Simply, worst things that could happen would be…Gluttony against Mustang…if he knows what you look like," she said glancing towards the dark-haired Colonel, "He'll eat you in a flash for killing Lust…and it just so happens that he's the worst possible match up for you," she added.

"For Alphonse and Ed…It would be against Envy. Both of you specialize in hand to hand fighting and close contact alchemy, Ed more so than Al…Which is why you shouldn't be even close to that bastard…" she sighed.

"He loves to play on people's emotions…because all he really wants is to be able to feel that way himself…He wants whatever he can't have…" she added, her eyes getting a faraway look on them.

Ed put a comforting arm around her shoulders, much to the amusement of some of the men at the table, who were coincidentally dealt hefty blows to the head by the Major, who had tears pouring down his face.

"How touching!!!" he exclaimed joyously, standing up, and knocking the table over.

"The bond between you two rivals that between those two brothers!!" sniffed the Major, wiping his eyes.

Al suddenly felt like someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over him. He had never thought of this relationship between Ed and Alric affecting his with his brother…Well actually, he had, but he'd never had it put to him so bluntly…If Edward really was involved with Alric…would he not have as much time for his younger brother? Would they drift apart…would they have adventures again with just the two of them?

"Stop saying stupid things…" growled Edward, pulling the table back up, and helping people back into their chairs, while Alric plopped the papers back onto the table, humming to herself, as if she hadn't heard what had just been said.

"Nothing is going to get in between me and Al…"

8.8.8

Maybe he had made a mistake, somewhere…When he thought about it, he had made a lot of mistakes in trying to obtain his goals. His family…Teacher…Hughes…Was everything worth this? Alric had been explicitly clear that most likely, if they succeeded, they'd have to hightail it out of the country. Chances that everything would go back to 'normal' were practically nil. The entire Military Administration was corrupt, and all of them knew what was happening…mostly. They probably didn't expect to be ingredients, when their 'grand' scheme was put into play…

His dream of becoming Fuhrer and making the world a safer, better place for the people of Amestris… would it really ever come true? Would he be able to protect everyone he cared about from harm?

He glanced towards the clock in his home. It was getting late. Alric was busy stashing all their papers into a shoe box, to hide them from any government snoopers.

Come to think of it…that assassin who had tried to kill Alric…what happened to him?

"Edward, what happened to that assassin?" he asked

Alric suddenly froze, and Alphonse cringed noticeably.

Edward closed his eyes.

"To put it nicely, he won't be pointing guns at anyone anymore…" he said, his voice forcedly calm.

"So…I take it he's dead?" said Ling, getting up and stretching.

"He was transmuted inside out and into next year…" muttered Alric, putting the box under some books.

"Did you find out where he was from, who he was working for?"

"Oh yeah, some guy called Hakuro…" said Alric dismissively, "Not that it really matters…"

"G-General Hakuro?!?" spluttered Havok, surprised.

"Yeah…someone who doesn't want Mustang getting too powerful…"she continued, glancing towards the dark-haired man.

The colonel sighed tiredly.

"I wonder…will I ever actually be able to turn this country around…"he mused aloud.

"I'm sorry…" whispered Alric.

"Huh?"

She looked up at everyone with her strange cloudy golden eyes, there was pain in there. Pain that he wasn't used to seeing in her…

"It's partially my fault that Amestris is in such bad shape…I…I was responsible for the unstable situation down South…" she said, "Every civil war there, was my doing"

Ed touched her arm gently.

"Alric…it's okay…" he whispered tenderly, "what's done is done…"

"Fullmetal's right…we've forgiven you for your past actions, when you were on the side of the Homunculi," said Mustang looking at the girl with affection.

After this short period of time knowing her, he found that he felt something for her…a sort of paternal affection…Similar to what he felt towards Edward and Alphonse…a feeling of responsibility towards the brothers' well-being…Somehow, he felt the same way towards Alric.

"It's just that…" she said, putting a hand over her heart, gripping it tightly.

"All of you had dreams…and…since I came, some of them have…" she trailed off at that point into silence.

"None of it's your fault…" said Al reassuringly. He always tried to make things better, not just for Edward, but everyone else as well. The younger Elric brother really did have a gentle heart.

"It hurts…seeing you all…" she tried to start again, but just stopped. Ed simply remained silent, and put an arm around her shoulders.

_**It hurts…knowing that I'll outlive all of you…Ed…Al…Colonel…**_

**_After all this…I'll…I'll disappear…I'll leave all of you behind…I…I don't want to see you all grow old and die…I don't want that…I don't want it to hurt anymore…Maybe…maybe I won't have to say goodbye…It's risky…but I don't want to say goodbye…I don't want you to be angry with me._**

…**_Whether it's love or hate…I don't want to have to choose between either one in my life…everything would've been better if I had never been born…_**

****

* * *

**Some people might recognize the 'whether it's love or hate' line from the FMA BBI Pride Ending...essentially, I really liked that line...but not the yaoi implications behind what Envy was actually saying, so I modified it to be a bit...milder(?) **


	15. Chapter 15

**GAH! Writing out five different fights is hard...especially since I don't intend to overlap them within chapters...but here's what happened next...NOwhere near the end of the story yet...**

* * *

Alric sat alone in her apartment, playing absentmindedly with a small knife that Mustang had given her. They had been his friend's…the one who had died, when he found out something he shouldn't have…When this was all over, if they succeeded…What then? Somehow, she hadn't really thought of what to do next. Probably because she found that the chances of beating Father were almost zero. The old man could do transmutations without even moving so much as a finger, it would be impossible to predict what he would do, and he didn't necessarily need contact with whatever he was transmuting either. That was how she had ended behind the Gate the first time. She had never even noticed until she was being pulled through…Come to think of it…if what Ed said was true about her, why hadn't the old geezer killed her instead? That would've made everything a lot easier for him, wouldn't it? Father must have known that she could have come back at any time, if she really felt like it…Then again, before she didn't have a reason to come back…

She shook her head disgustedly, and threw the knife into the wall. She was being stupid right now. This wasn't a time to be thinking about such things. Right now she should be thinking of a strategy, or at least of when they'd launch their attack. Most likely, the Homunculi would be expecting it…But they probably wouldn't think she'd use the Transmutation circle to get in. They wouldn't be able to activate it so long as she was in the city…but if they did…

She threw another knife into the wall. Geez, she was being so stupid right now…

"Hey! Watch where you throw those things…" chuckled a sinisterly familiar voice.

"Get the hell away from me!" she yelled, getting up immediately, and throwing yet another knife from her belt at the smirking green-haired Homunculus by her open window. He dodged it easily.

"Awww…I'd think you missed me, after a hundred and fifty years or so…" he grinned.

"Your face is pretty easy to forget…" she answered, flicking another knife into her hands.

"Not for you I think, seeing as how you and I …" he started to say, but she threw that knife straight into his throat, severing his windpipe.

"Shut. Up…"growled Alric angrily.

"If I remember correctly, you enjoyed it…" he said, pulling the blade out of his neck. Alric froze. The memory going through her mind unwillingly…Terror welling up inside her once more… She quickly squashed it with her overriding rage against that stupid smirking green-haired freak in front of her.

"I remember you screaming, begging me to…" he started to say.

"Stop. Talking. Now." She said, her eyes darkening dangerously. He actually winced at the subtle shift in her tone of voice. If he mentioned one more thing about that…she just might lose control…And she wouldn't care…

Envy decided that trying to obscure some of the facts, and messing with Wrath's head wouldn't be worth working her up into one of her berserk rages. He probably wouldn't get out with just a scratch…

"You were such a willing, eager to please little girl before…" he sighed, with feigned regret.

"Shut. The. Fuck. Up!" she snapped angrily, glaring pure hatred at him. He had almost driven her off the deep end. He could tell because she hadn't frozen like she had a few seconds ago…Instead she got mad and was now cursing…Man was he lucky…He so did not want to bring out the wrathful side of Wrath…

"So you _do _remember that night," he grinned satisfactorily, "Well, I'm not here to talk about what happened between us …"

"I told you to SHUT UP!!!" she snarled, throwing another knife into his forehead. He was seriously pushing the limit now…If she really lost it, most likely this street block just might be wiped off the map.

"Geez! How many of those things do you _have_ on you?!?" he asked incredulously, plucking the weapon out. Where did she put them anyway?!

"You're a Homunculus Wrath. You're nothing like these humans," he said with disgust, "You can do things they can't, you can't do things they can either! We don't need to eat, we don't need to sleep, we don't die, we don't age, we live where humans couldn't possibly survi…" he listed angrily. It sickened him that such a pathetic little girl was the same as him. Did she actually believe that she could be happy amongst the humans? Could a superior being be happy amongst lesser creatures?

"SHUT UP!!" she screamed at him, electricity crackling around her right arm.

Oh shit…he'd forgotten about her arm…

"Father asked me to make an offer to you," he said dismissively, all the while eyeing her right arm with misgiving, "He says that if you and those humans with you get out of the country within the week, he'll let you live…"

"Why would _he_ of all people want to cut a deal with me?" she asked, not looking up at him. The alchemical energy around her arm seemed to be building up…

There was no way he was going to tell her that she'd ruin everything so long as she was in the city.

"Father's feeling generous, you should be grateful and take his offer," suggested Envy in the most diplomatic voice he could muster, while constantly eyeing Wrath's arm.

"Get lost…" she growled softly.

"What?"

"GET LOST!!!" she roared, suddenly vanishing from his vision, and punching him with her right arm.

"S-Shit…" swore Envy as the alchemical energy blasted into him, effectively blowing him into thousands of tiny pieces.

Sometimes he wondered how on earth he had managed to subdue Wrath all those years ago…He knew that answer though. Because she had trusted him…

8.8.8

He wouldn't be back…It would take a while for the bastard to pull himself together after what she had done to him, she thought satisfactorily. He probably thought she didn't know about the consequences of Father not killing her all those years ago…She knew better than to trust Father's word. Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric…The Elric Brothers, wouldn't be let go of so easily. Ed especially…he was priceless to them. Not that she'd ever let him know it, but he was easily the greatest alchemist born in over a hundred years…Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"WHAT!?!?" she roared angrily.

"Ummm…We're your neighbours, we just heard something really loud…are you…"

"I'm FINE!!" she yelled irritably.

"Wha- are you..?"

"I'M FINE!!!!" she roared.

"Um…okay…"

She probably sent whoever that was scurrying back to their apartment. She sat down heavily on the couch. She needed to calm down…she punched a hole in a door.

Hell like she was going to calm down…she picked up the phone and dialed Fuery's number.

"Hey, Sergeant, it's me….There's going to be a slight change in plans…"

8.8.8

They seemed, to the average Amestrian citizen, like a rather unique music group, complete with a full string quartet, a guitarist, and quite possibly an entire drum set…and maybe even a tuba…Well, who could tell with those large bags…Though what you could possibly play with such a group was mind-boggling…

"Alric…when you said you were going to push the launch date up…I didn't think you would put it to first thing today…I didn't even have time to leave goodbye notes, in case I die…" yawned Mustang.

She shot him a blood curdling glare.

"It's not like we have a choice. They have a schedule to which they sincerely want to keep to…Anyway, didn't I tell you to make all those phone calls weeks ago? " then her tone lightened slightly, "Envy showed up, with an offer from Father, that's why we need to make our move now…"

"Just exactly _what_ was this offer?" demanded Edward, carefully adjusting his backpack on his shoulder.

"They offered to let us get out of the country before they destroy it…Which is a total lie," answered the blonde girl. "There is _no_ way they're going to just let you and your brother walk out of here…"

"Um…Hey Alric…where the hell are we going?" asked Havok, who was pulling up the rear with Breda and Fuery, all who were carrying enormous bags, presumably drums, guitar and tuba.

Alric motioned for them all to turn down a dark alleyway, away from the main traffic, and far out of sight from the casual pedestrian.

"Everyone's got everything?" she asked. They all nodded.

"We've got enough explosives and ammo in here to blow Central Headquarters sky high!" grinned the spiky haired Second-Lieutenant enthusiastically.

Fuery pulled out his second pair of glasses, and a helmet. Hawkeye, another three pistols, Breda opened his 'guitar' case to pull out an anti-tank weapon, and Alphonse had enough materials to equip an entire army with swords, spears and daggers. Ling and his retainers, however did not pull out their weapons. Knowing how much equipment Ran Fan carried, it would take forever for her to hide them all again if she unpacked it all.

"Oh, before I forget…Here…" said Ed, fishing out a small box from his pocket and passing it to Mustang.

"What's this? A present?" asked the Colonel sarcastically.

"Shut up, and look at it already…" growled the Fullmetal Alchemist, "You should be glad I took the time to make it…I wouldn't have, if Alric hadn't been complaining about your uselessness…" he added with a grin.

After shooting the Fullmetal Alchemist a glare, he opened it.

"A lighter…"

"It's pretty damp down there, so your gloves might not be so useful…I had Ed carve your array into it," explained Alric, as she seemed to be examining a wall.

"T-Thanks…"

The wall was made of bricks, and it seemed pretty solid to them. Alric grinned, as she ran a hand over some of them.

"Hasn't changed at all…even after a couple hundred years," she laughed, as she suddenly pulled three of the bricks down. The bricks were attached to a metal plate, and revealed a switch behind it. Carefully, Alric pulled it down, and part of the floor beside them opened up in a set of stairs, leading straight down.

"Whoa…sophisticated…" said Havok surprised.

Alric passed out some flashlights.

"It's dark down there, and it stinks like hell. And I'm pretty sure Sloth is around here somewhere…" she told them, as she pulled off her jacket.

"Umm...Alric…wha-What are you doing?!?" exclaimed Alphonse as he noticed that she was also taking off her shirt. He was turning bright red right now, and his ears burned with embarrassment.

"Alric, next time, warn us when you're going to do something like that…" spluttered Ed.

When Alphonse looked up again, Alric looked a lot more like a Homunculus. She was wearing a very similar outfit to Envy, only that it looked decent on her, mainly because she was a girl. She was also barefoot, and had long black gloves on as well. He could easily see the red dots she had mentioned before on her hands, and back as well.

"If I went down there, looking like a normal human, then Sloth would kill me. Being the idiot that he is, he probably won't remember that I'm not on their side anymore," she explained, "When I go talk to him, all of you, stay out of sight. I'll deal with him myself."

With that, they all descended into the darkness.

8.8.8

"Holy crap…it _is_ dark down here…"exclaimed Breda, as he tried to see where he was walking.

"And it _stinks_!" added Fuery, to which Black Hayate barked his assent.

Alric was much farther ahead than they were. They could only see the back of her head, and that only because her golden hair reflected the dim light from their flashlights.

"What do you expect? It's a tunnel that's over two hundred years old!" she answered irritably.

There was an audible squish as he took another step. Havok felt his insides freeze.

"Don't look down…you don't want to know what you just stepped on…" muttered Farman, moving ahead of him.

_Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down…_ he chanted to himself mentally.

"Watch your step…There might be some holes around here…" Alric called back to them, when Fuery suddenly shouted shrilly in horror.

Everyone whirled around.

"What was it?!?" asked Mustang, his fingers at the ready.

"A-A huge rat just ran by!" stammered the bespectacled sergeant, shaking slightly.

Mustang swiped him heftily across the head.

"Idiot!"

"Listen Sergeant, we're going to be fighting things that are much scarier than rats, so pull yourself together, and keep the noise down!" snapped Alric.

Edward put an arm on her shoulder comfortingly.

"Hey, Alric…calm down…take deep breaths…" he told her, "You're scaring some people around here..." he whispered audibly into her ear.

Alric sighed.

"Look…Sloth could be around here…and knowing him, it'd be better if we catch him napping…" she said in a gentler tone.

8.8.8

The Boss's girlfriend could be REAL scary sometimes…not as scary as him, but almost…At least the two of them could control the other…When Alric got mad, the Boss would calm her down, and when the Boss got mad, she'd force him down into surrender.

Seeing those two made him think of the Colonel and Lieutenant Hawkeye…it was a similar relationship, except that the Colonel didn't calm Hawkeye down…in fact he had never seen her explode into rages like the Boss…Maybe it was because they were adults…but then again, she did always shoot at the man when he was slacking off…

8.8.8

Suddenly Alric raised her hand for them to stop.

"Wait here…" she ordered before running off.

"It's the Homunculus…" said one of Ling's masked retainers.

"Turn the lights down…" whispered Alphonse, turning off his flashlight as soon as she was gone.

A sullen silence came over them, as they waited for her to come back.


	16. Chapter 16

**Okay...so apparently the ending of the last chapter was a bit of a cliff hanger...soo I decided to not finish writing out certain fights between a certain alchemist and Homunculus, and post a bit more first...happy?**

* * *

She looked around from side to side. She was positive that Sloth was around here. A low rumbling noise confirmed his direction. 

"Hey! Sloth!!" she shouted, "Get up you lazy idiot!!"

There was a loud crash, as the big Homunculus stood up, and rubbed his eyes.

"Uhh…Wr...Wrath???" he said looking confused.

"Of course it's me!" she said as if he was the dumbest thing on earth…which he was, next to Gluttony. Actually, Gluttony probably had more brains than this guy…

"Whatcha doing slacking off right now?!?" she asked with mock indignation.

"Do you have any idea how close we are now?!?" she continued to berate him, while gathering energy into her left arm.

"Uhhhhhh…"

"Exactly."

"B-But I'm sleepy…" he whined. Before, she had always been the one who didn't punish him…but how long had it been since he'd seen her…?...?...?

"That's okay…you won't have to worry about that anymore…" she said suddenly grabbing his face with her left arm.

The transmutation circle on her body glowing as he felt his strength ebb away from him.

"W-What…" he stammered, hopelessly confused. He was such an idiot...

"Good riddance…" she breathed, feeling the energy from the Philosopher's Stone inside him drain into her.

"B-But…" he protested as his eyelids drooped over, and his legs gave way beneath him, causing reverberations throughout the entire tunnel.

"That's right big guy…take a nap…a really long one…" she said gently, as she transmuted a stone blade from the ground. With a single movement, she sent the sharp object straight through the now harmless Homunculus' brain, killing him instantly.

She looked up to see Ed watching her.

"Moron…" she growled walking over to him, "I told you to wait for me!"

"I am! Are you done yet?" he asked with mock irritability.

"You could've gotten yourself killed…" she started, when Ed silenced her with one of those sad pained looks of his…

Damn he could make you feel like the worst kind of jerk to just talk over him when he looked at you like that. Must have been useful trying to weasel information out of people, when downright threats didn't work…

"You could've died too…" he said touching her face gently, "I was worried, that's all"

8.8.8

"AWWWWWWWWW…" sighed Ling expressively. "Isn't that just cute?" he asked Ran Fan, who looked exceptionally embarrassed by her charge's behaviour.

"You don't think so? I find that Alric looks positively adorable right now…" he grinned.

"Really, you think so?" said Mustang in response, quite loudly actually, "Personally, I find that Edward looks cuter…"

Alric looked at them with a face like thunder.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS DOING HERE?!?!" she exclaimed angrily, she shot a look at Ed, which had him putting his hands up in surrender.

"I didn't do anything!!" he protested, claiming his innocence, "I just left to because I was worried about you!!"

"Well, we actually didn't notice he was gone…" started Havok, coming over along with everyone else, holding a flashlight.

"WHY ARE YOU GUYS ALL HERE?!?!" demanded Alric. Boy their plan was practically unraveling at the seams here…If they kept this up, they'd probably never make it to the center…

"Umm…it kinda went like this…" started Al, hoping to calm the girl down...

_They sat in an awkward silence. No one speaking, hardly moving. They all just sat there._

_"Alric's been gone for quite a while, hasn't she Nii-san?" asked Alphonse, turning to where his brother had been sitting, only to see empty space._

_"Eh?! Nii-san?!?!" he exclaimed standing up, and looking around, as if Ed was somewhere around._

_"Fullmetal's gone?" said Mustang surprised, "I hadn't noticed…"_

_"Well…no point just sitting around here…" said Ling, getting up, "I'm going to go look for Edward…" he said walking off._

_"Y-YOUNG MASTER?!" shouted Ran Fan, going after him immediately._

_"SHHHHH!!!" said Alphonse loudly, trying to get them to quiet down._

_"Alric-san told us to keep it down!" he protested, against the others' noise._

_"Hey! Where do you two think you're going?" demanded the Colonel, getting up and following after the two Xing teenagers._

_"C-Colonel?!" exclaimed Hawkeye, immediately taking off after him. If he didn't have someone to watch his back, he'd be killed in an instant…the Colonel was far too reckless to be left alone._

_"Lieutenant Hawkeye!"_

_One by one, all of them started running after each other, and Alphonse was left alone with Black Hayate._

_"Oh what the hell…Let's go…"_

Alric throughout Al's entire narration, looked more and more dangerous with every word he said. When he finished, she glared at them all, before sighing tiredly.

"Well at least you all stuck together…Pity I couldn't pull the Major out of that investigation… he'd make sure you would have stayed put…" she said eyeing them all with irritability. "There may be enough time for me to head back up and…"

"No…tha-that won't be necessary…" chorused everyone in unison. True that Major Armstrong would be able to keep them all together, but then they would all be stuck listening to the man's entire family history…something that Edward _never_ wanted to hear again…

"It's best that the Major stays above ground. If anything happens, he'll know where to find us…I left him the directions of the office passage," said Mustang as diplomatically as possible.

"That way is heavily guarded…" started Alric, but surprisingly, it was Sergeant Major Fuery cut her off.

"I'm quite sure that the Major can handle himself. After all, you _did_ say that he did stand the greatest chance of survival against a Homunculus." Said the bespectacled man cheerfully.

Everyone just stared at Alric expectantly, finally she stopped glaring at them and sighed exasperatedly.

"Okay…let's keep going…" she said, motioning for them to follow her.

8.8.8

It was dark, it smelt, and it was really boring…

"Hey Alric…how much further is it anyway?" asked Alphonse.

"About another two hours walk…I took the wrong entrance..." she answered apologetically.

"So…can we talk a bit?" piped up Breda.

"Fine…just no shouting…" growled Alric, glancing around the tunnel, as if looking for some sort of landmark…

"Nii-san…just exactly what happened last night? You locked me out of the house…" asked Alphonse. He had simply gone out to get some supplies, and had left his keys at home, since Edward was in the apartment anyway. He had been exceptionally surprised to find that he couldn't get in after, and despite all his banging, Edward didn't seem to have heard him, or had possibly gone out. He had had to spend the night over at Hawkeye's home.

Ed froze for a moment while walking, as did Alric, and even by the dim light, it was obvious that both of them had turned bright red.

"Oh…" said Al slightly embarrassed.

"OHHH" smirked Ling, "So _that's_ why Al was locked out of your house…"

"Sh-Shut up!" said Ed, extremely embarrassed. He could've sworn that he could see the heat coming off his face… It was already pretty bad that he had locked Al out of the house, and bad that Alphonse had brought it up. But it was much worse, now that Ling was making references to his personal life…

"We didn't do anything!" he grumbled, half a lie…

"Sure you didn't" smiled Mustang, an amused look on his face. He still found it amazingly hilarious that Ed actually had a girlfriend…despite all his protestations the previous year that he didn't want one…

"Ed gave me a lecture about how I was going to run away…once all this was over…" said Alric, not looking back at them.

"W-What?!" exclaimed the five regular soldiers at the back.

"I don't want to see all of you grow old and die…" answered Alric, still looking forward, her voice cold and distant, as they traveled down the tunnel, "I don't want to lose my family again…I was planning on leaving once and if we win…"

"B-But you said that we'd all most likely have to leave the country!!" stammered Havok, moving up the line towards Alric. She still wasn't looking back at them.

"We would…and once you guys were all somewhere safe, I was going to leave you all…"

"Without saying goodbye…" she said stopping and turning to face them all.

"Alric…You once told Edward, that being alone was the most painful thing anyone could feel…" Mustang said slowly.

"I'd rather live the rest of my life alone than hurt myself like that by seeing you all die…" she answered, without a single shred of regret in her eyes, "I thought it would be better for you guys, and myself, if I left without any notice…I also thought you guys would understand, without me having to tell you…" she glanced towards Al for a moment.

"Ed guessed most of it already, then gave me one of those 'I'm-going-to-kill-you-if-you-try-to-do-something-so-stupid-like-that-so-help-me-God' glares and then lectured me for about an hour…"

Alphonse nodded. He had been on the receiving end of those glares multiple times before. His big brother was really good at making him feel like such an ungrateful jerk at times, especially when he gave him those types of speeches…

"So what are you going to do now?" asked Hawkeye, as they started moving forwards again.

"Well, I decided that it would be better to actually win first and then see what happens…" she answered, "Because honestly, I don't know how we're going to beat Father…"

Half a lie… she had already thought of one way. But maybe she shouldn't mention it just now…They'd just find out later by themselves…

8.8.8

"There's no sign of them anywhere…" reported Wrath, as he came down to their level. "It is possible that they might have left the country…I've put out alerts for them to be stopped at any border crossing," said the Fuhrer, looking at Envy with his one eye.

"I seriously doubt that…" said Envy, sitting down on some of the tubing on the floor, "Seeing and knowing what Wrath is capable of, the old one," he added, glancing at his younger sibling, "she probably knows that there is no way that we'd let the Fullmetal shrimp get away…" he noted, rubbing his sore ribs. Damn…but whatever the hell she'd done to him still hurt, even after all this time…Technically he shouldn't even be in pain…if this was what humans felt all the time, he'd probably have killed himself after being driven insane by the way his bruised flesh throbbed. He had known her right arm could do some pretty crazy things, but this wasn't on his list of 'probable-things-the-stupid-brat-could-do'.

"How was this other Wrath's existence possible?" asked Wrath. Boy he'd be driven crazy trying to keep track of what was being said here…

"She isn't, wasn't one of us…not really…"

"She wasn't a Homunculus?"

"No…she wasn't human, but she wasn't like us…" said Envy, waving his arms around, hoping to clarify his meaning with random gestures. It didn't seem to be working.

"The old Wrath was made by humans, so she's not like us in that way, but she is our sibling, in a manner of speaking…"

"How so?"

"Why are you being so inquisitive today?!?" asked Envy getting irritated.

"Well, how do you expect me to react when I'm told that my predecessor is coming to kill us, for a reason that still eludes me?"

Stupid eye-patch freak…him and all his big words…being around humans must have really gotten to his head…

"Some random alchemist created a Homunculus in an attempted transmutation of some brat who was actually still alive…the result was the old Wrath. Actually, we found her quite by accident…"

It had been a while after her creation that they had actually discovered her existence. They had been tracking down potential human pawns, and one of them happened to be that random alchemist whose name he had forgotten. They had realized she was like them when they saw the Uroborus mark on her shoulder, as well as the fact that there was the corpse of a girl next to her, that happened to look rather similar…

On top of that, the girl actually ate some incomplete Philosopher's Stone…Envy had meant it as a joke, but he hadn't expected it to actually have an effect…

Perplexed, he and Lust, since Gluttony did not count in any decision making, decided to bring the girl home.

"So why did she betray Father?"

"Who knows…" sighed Envy leaning back, "But Father isn't happy at all with her…"

8.8.8

"Hey Alric…just exactly what did you do to that big guy?" asked Havok, as they continued down the dark passageways.

"Oh, Sloth? I…umm…I ate him…" she said distractedly, as she looked around the tunnel.

"WHAT?!?"

"In a manner of speaking," said Ed hurriedly, "Alric absorbed all the energy of the Philosopher's Stone from that Homunculus' body…weakening him to the point that he could be killed easily…"

"How did you do that?"

Alric held out her left arm to the rest of them.

"My entire body has been marked with an alchemic array, if you haven't noticed," she explained, "This arm is for Reconstruction, and my right is for Decomposition…"

"So then what's the rest of it?" asked Breda, gesturing at her body.

"It's what allows me to absorb all the lives from the Philosopher's Stone," her golden-eyes staring at all of them at the same time, "Just so you know, it wasn't Father who put this array on me…"

Alphonse nodded, understanding what she meant.

"An array with the sole purpose of attaching a human soul to a body…" said Mustang, speaking aloud Alphonse's very thoughts.

"Except that it's a bit crude…" he muttered half to himself.

"The transmutation circle Ed used for Al looks nothing like that…" said Falman.

Trust Falman to remember the random things that no one really paid attention to…

"Precisely, it's too vague, in terms of souls. It's specific to humans, but it doesn't say which one…" said Alric, her tone flat and even.

It sounded as if she honestly couldn't care less…

_She's preoccupied with something,_ thought Edward, _And I don't think I'm going to like it…_

8.8.8

"So the man who created you, intended to transplant his daughter's soul into…" said Fuery, nervously.

"Yes…he did…unfortunately for him, having existed inside this body for so long, his daughter's soul didn't stand a chance against me…" answered Alric.

Silence.

"Umm…Hey Nii-san…" started Al behind him. As he turned around to look at his younger brother, there was a slight rumble and Al suddenly vanished with a yell.

"AL?!?!?!!" shouted Edward shocked. Immediately everyone turned around and pointed their flashlights were Al had been just a few seconds ago. There was a huge gaping hole where they had all been walking over just a moment ago.

"H-HOLY SHIT!!!" exclaimed Havok, staring at the enormity of the hole. It easily took up the entire passage way.

"AL! AL!! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!?!" shouted Ed desperately, all set to throw all caution to the winds and search for his little brother. It didn't matter if he was being loud, in fact it would be better, then Al could hear him, and he'd find him faster… A firm grip held tight to his arm.

"Ed. Shut up. Take deep breaths, and calm down," said the Colonel his voice deceptively calm.

"LET GO OF ME!! MY LITTLE BROTHER'S DOWN THERE!!!" he roared, his older-brother instincts overriding common sense. Just as he managed to break free from the Colonel, Alric tackled him to the ground. Immediately he started to fight with her.

_Al…I won't lose you…Not again…_

* * *

**_Okay so this a bit of an even bigger cliff hanger...but don't worry...I'll finish writing out some more fights first and then post what happens next... _**


	17. Chapter 17

**You wanted to know what happened next...so now the chapter's just a little shorter**

* * *

"Ed! LISTEN TO ME DAMMIT!!!" growled Alric, pinning him to the ground.

"You won't be any help to your little brother if we all get caught! SO SHUT UP AND LISTEN!!!" she yelled at him. Ed kept trying to break free from her hold. She punched him. He still kept struggling. She punched him again. Boy was it going to be hard to get through to this idiot…he worried far too much for his own good…She was pretty sure Al was alright though, she glanced towards Ling for confirmation. The dark-haired teenager nodded. Al's life was still strong, and he was alive.

"LET GO OF ME!!" yelled Ed. She punched him yet again, a bit harder than the previous two, but not hard enough to knock him out cold. Until Ed started thinking straight, she'd keep punching him…she thought grimly. Suddenly Ed pushed her off of him with a wild yell, and in a blink of an eye, he was on top of her with a knife at her throat.

She stared straight up at him, her golden eyes, boring into his…Slowly he stood up, dropping his knife to the floor. What had he been doing?

Alric punched him, knocking him to the floor.

"Idiot…" she growled, then helped him up again.

"That punch was not necessary…" he groaned, rubbing his face, where she had punched him. She touched his face, and he felt a bone-chilling shudder pass through him. He knew she had just healed him.

"Are you thinking clearly now?" she asked, brushing the filth from her skirt.

He nodded dumbly. If he said that most of him was still screaming to dive into that hole after Al, she'd do more than just punch him…

"Alright then. You're going to move out…"

"And leave Al there?!?!" he demanded.

Alric glared at him frostily, making him immediately regret talking.

"No. I said _you_ not _we_," she said emphasizing the difference, "The passage to the left leads straight down to the centre. It's only about half an hour away…" she told the others. "I'll go look for Al."

"But…"

"If you went, you'd make a big ruckus and then we'd lose the element of surprise…which is about the only advantage we have…" explained Alric, "I know this place better than any of you, so it's only logical that I go look for him…"

Edward stared at her in a state of partial shock. He felt a bit dizzy, and couldn't really think straight right now…he wondered if this was what it felt like to be drunk…not like he'd remember the feeling of when he was drunk…

"Ed…are you okay?" asked Ling, prodding his shoulder.

He blinked.

"Huh?"

Ling was peering straight into his eyes, an amused expression on his face.

"You were just staring at Alric, with your mouth half open…like a guppy…" smiled the Prince of Xing.

"What?"

8.8.8

Something was wrong with Ed…he didn't interpret the guppy statement as an insult towards his stature…Maybe Alric had punched him a little too hard…

"Well, we should move on…" suggested Falman, shifting his equipment on his shoulder into a more comfortable position.

"What about Alric?" asked Ed.

"She left about thirty seconds ago…"

Ed was _really_ out of it right now…It would probably get better, once they got there…

8.8.8

_CRASH!!!!!!!!!!!_

Envy looked up, from his hands to turn towards the origin of the noise.

"What the hell was that?" he said to no one in particular. Wrath…the Fuhrer Wrath, looked in that direction as well.

"Did Gluttony crash into sumthin'?" continued Envy, scratching his head. The idiot had a habit of never looking where he was going, and knocking into things he wasn't supposed to…eating things he wasn't supposed to…

"Should we go check it out?" he asked Wrath.

"I will…" said Pride moving from just about two feet away from where Envy was sitting, towards the source of the sound. Envy just watched him go by, with a strange expression on his face.

Once the other Homunculus was out of earshot, he turned to Wrath.

"Pride was there the whole time?" he asked pointing.

Wrath nodded.

"He's always there…didn't you notice?"

Maybe he really was getting old…

8.8.8

"I only see two of them…" whispered Ed, worriedly. His fists were clenched painfully tight, and he knew that he was shaking. One of the two was Envy, and he sincerely wished that something unfortunate would happen and that he'd be able to beat the stuffing out of that smirking green-haired transvestite…Payback for all the times he had been called Fullmetal Pipsqueak, bean, midget, shrimp or chibi-san…The count had seriously gone up…when he had been on the other side of the Gate, he had been sneezing a lot for no reason whatsoever. Possibly the Colonel had mentioned his name a couple of times, but the man had already paid for that with the morning's coffee for a week, but the Homunculus still hadn't paid for that time in the Fifth Laboratory…Alric had not explicitly forbidden him to even get close to the bastard, but she had warned him not to. She probably did that to protect him from seeing Envy transform into every person he cared about, and probably thought that he would hesitate at a crucial moment and get himself killed…He wasn't _that_ naïve or _that _much of an idiot…

8.8.8

"AAAHHHHH!!!" screamed Fuery, pointing behind them all, "COLONEL MUSTANG SIR!!!!" he yelled, waving his arms up and down frantically. They all whirled around to see a large scaly, furry, and everything in between creature about five feet tall right behind them. Immediately Havok opened fire with a machine gun that he had pulled out from his bag, killing the thing instantly.

"Well…looks like we've lost our element of surprise…" remarked Breda dryly, loading up his rifle.

"We've got your back Colonel Mustang, sir…" started Hawkeye flicking the safety on her pistol, when a loud roar filled the entire cavern.

"MUSTANG?!?!?! MUSTANG?!?!"

A low rumble began to shake the ground beneath them. This could not be good.

"YOU KILLED LUST!!!!!!!" shrieked a very large, fat man who they had previously encountered.

Just their luck…everything was already falling apart, right at the beginning.

8.8.8

"And we were wondering where they were…" smirked Envy, following Gluttony's path of destruction through their home.

"You go tell Father…" he started to say to him, when a blonde blur whizzed straight past him, crashing straight into Envy, yelling "YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!!!!"

"WOAH!!!!" said a familiar voice, slightly amused voice.

He turned slowly to find himself face to face with the annoying squinty eyed boy from before.

"I had no idea that he could move so fast…he must be learning a few things from Alric…" he grinned, looking straight at him.

"I take it that I am to be your opponent…" said Fuhrer King Bradley, looking at the boy with extreme distaste. This boy was pretty good, and was actually able to cross swords with him…But he was human, and subject to human weaknesses of fatigue…

Surprisingly the boy shook his head.

"Not exactly…see, you know when I said that a true king cares for his people?" he asked.

Wrath nodded, not really seeing where this was going.

"Well, I intend to do that," declared the boy, drawing his sword, "And if I want to become Emperor of all Xing…"

A smoke bomb suddenly exploded in his face, obscuring his vision.

"I'm going to have even up the odds a bit…"

The brat was _so _going to pay for that…

* * *

**Okay, maybe a thousand words shorter, but every chapter after this is just going to be individual fights...very long fights...sort of.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Uhhhhhhhh...sorry about the huge wait and all...but we (as in me and my edito/relation/ sibling) just found the joys of gameboy emulators and kind of went insane...as in downloaded five different pokemons for the hell of it...five final fantasys (-ies) and two fire emblems, and four Legend of Zelda games...and my dad mentioned something about a wii...and ummmmmm...playing with two year olds is a lot more fun than sitting in front of a computer...well anyway, here's the Al vs. Pride fight.**

**(As Pride hasn't been mentioned and/or seen yet in the manga, besides a nose shadow, I took the liberties of making a crappy description of him...)**

* * *

He hurt all over, and he was pretty sure that he had broken a couple of bones. Nothing too serious though…He got up with a groan. Okay scratch that, he hadn't broken anything, he was just sore. Looking up he noticed that he couldn't really see where he had fallen from.

That must have been one hell of a fall, and one heck of a miracle for him to still be alive after that, and not a scratch on him…well maybe one or two, but considering that his internal structures were still fine seemed miraculous enough to him.

"Nii-san?" he called up to the ceiling, which by the way, he happened to not be able to see. Damn it was dark here…and creepy…

"Nii-san?" he called again. Knowing his brother, the Colonel, Alric and almost everyone else would have to be restraining him from jumping straight down after him. Sometimes his big brother could be a bit _over-_protective.

He remembered that time he had gotten a cold a few months after Ed had come back from beyond the gate…He hadn't had a moment's peace! Ed had wanted to haul him straight to the doctor, and almost did, if it hadn't been for Alric; who hit him over the head multiple times and told him that he was being an idiot. It was just a cold for heaven's sakes! And the way Ed was going, she said that if _he_ wasn't careful, _he_'d be the one getting sick…

The next day, Ed had woken up with an extremely high temperature, fever, and was vomiting; however, he had stubbornly insisted on going to work that day…until Alric drugged his coffee, per Mustang's orders she insisted later, and dragged him home.

Alric was a really nice girl at times…a lot like Nii-san sometimes, and a lot like Winry…Two people that Al really liked.

He found that Alric was good for Nii-san, she calmed him down a lot, and kept him from doing rash things…and Nii-san liked her a lot…If she left, Ed would be crushed almost as badly as the time they had failed their transmutation, and he had lost Al… Al never really understood how scared, and sad his older brother must have been, believing that he had lost everything he cared about. He never really wanted to find out either…He just never wanted to have his big brother put back in that situation ever again…

8.8.8

"My, my…what do we have here…" said an unfamiliar voice. Al whirled around to see a middle-aged man, with dark hair, and dark clothing. The Uroborus mark on his upper arm told Al who exactly this man was.

"Pride…" he whispered under his breath, trying to immediately recall everything Alric had mentioned about this guy's powers…

"_Unfortunately I never learned what his powers were…so I'm pretty useless on that topic…be careful…"_

Shit…

"So you know my name…to think that a human like you would happen to know that…" said the man. The way this guy talked…he sounded so full of himself…Al's first instinct was to want to take that guy down a peg or two, but that's usually what Edward did, and that usually got him into trouble. Well, the guy's name was Pride…so he guessed it was to be expected. Quickly transmuting a weapon from the floor, Al prepared himself for a fight. He had lost most of his materials on the fall, so stone weapons would have to do for now…

The man looked slightly surprised for a moment from the fact that Al hadn't used a transmutation circle.

"A Human Sacrifice…Interesting that you've made it this far, even for a human…You had to have had help…" he said, boredly.

"I don't have time for such petty games…" he said, throwing a punch at Al's face. This guy moved surprisingly fast, and Al took the blow straight on; however, this guy had no force in that punch.

Quickly, Al grabbed the man's arm and threw him over his shoulder, slamming him hard into the ground.

"What the hell?!?" exclaimed Al incredulously as he rammed his stone spear straight through the man's stomach.

"And you call yourself a Homunculus? You hit like a girl!!" Well, Al did know one or two girls he would definitely would not want to be punched by, but that wasn't the point…

8.8.8

Shit…how hard could it be to find a tall sandy haired, grey eyed teenager amidst at least three tons of rubble?! Quite hard actually…akin to searching for a needle in a haystack, that was three hundred times your size…

She knew Alphonse was alive, but she wasn't focused enough to be able to locate the boy precisely…well actually she never really could pinpoint a specific person's location…all those times before were mainly guesswork. With the Homunculi, however, they practically lit signal fires, with the enormity of all the lives they contained within themselves. Figures how Ling, Ran Fan and the old man always knew where she was, and why they were still actually here… She hoped that she had managed to dissuade Ling from pursuing immortality, which wasn't likely but she could dream couldn't she?

She rolled her eyes sarcastically to herself. If dreams did come true, she wouldn't be here looking for Alphonse…in fact, she would never have met Edward Elric, nor all these incredibly stupid and amazing people…if dreams came true, she'd still be calling herself by that stupid name that the stupid old geezer had given her, and following his stupid orders…if dreams came true Envy wouldn't have…

She stabbed herself in the arm with a small knife. This was no time to get all emotional. Right now, she had to find one stupid alchemist, and get him back to his even stupider alchemist brother, and then beat the crap out of the other Homunculi and her bastard of an adoptive Father…

A sudden surge in presences alerted her that Alphonse was most likely in battle now. That and a few explosions…She started to run. If her senses were still as acute as before, Al had just gotten into a fight with Pride…

8.8.8

Was it something he had said? Or was it that this guy had seriously underestimated him?

Well, whatever it had been, suddenly the Homunculus had actually started to fight…sort of…After boasting that he could easily beat him with one finger, Al had almost lost it, and had went almost all out on him. Somehow, he just couldn't take this guy seriously. He was so damn proud! Having only recently set up a running tally of how many times he had killed the guy, the number exceeded 25 …Pride was using one hand now…

Al quickly ducked as the man punched the ground, and rocks flew up into the air. It seemed that all Homunculi possessed super human strength…Funny how Alric hadn't mentioned that…he thought sarcastically. Well, he should have realized that himself a long time ago, but it felt better to be irritated with Alric's lack of information. Sure he couldn't blame her, but this fight was going to be a bit one sided if Pride started to use both hands. It had been easy up to three fingers, then after that, it became slightly challenging, and now with six fingers, it was a bit hard trying to stay ahead of this guy's attacks.

"What's the matter?" asked Al tauntingly, "Having trouble?" he smiled. Anger the opponent in order for them to forget themselves. Anger causes more direct attacks. Easier to block and counter…This guy fell for all of them so easily…Seven fingers now…

"You forget your place human!!" growled the Homunculus angrily, "normally I wouldn't bother to use such a divine power such as mine, in front of such a lowly creature…but I will make an exception…" he said. He raised both hands in front of him.

"I shall fight you with two hands now…"

Al rolled his eyes expressively. This fight was going on far too long…

8.8.8

Alric watched from behind some rocks carefully. She had to plan her moves carefully. She didn't know all of Pride's abilities…her memory was a bit foggy after a couple centuries. She had to admit that Al was handling this pretty well…He had pushed Pride to use two hands…She wondered what sort of crazy martial arts Al had used to make the guy feel like he was worthy of such attacks. Then she heard it.

"What the hell was that? You hit like a girl!!"

She winced.

Oh shit…She remembered_ that_ rule quite well, despite the time she had spent away. Never. NEVER insult Pride…

Pride was the oldest…and had to be powerful since even Envy had been scared of him and obeyed his orders without question…She personally had never had to take any of his orders. She had clung to Envy like a leech, when she was younger…before _that_ happened. Now she was ashamed of it…but she had had her reasons…

Pride, as his name suggested, was immensely proud. Any remark was immediately interpreted as an insult, and Pride would respond with semi-divine retribution. Almost as bad as Edward…but then again, Pride had super human powers, and Edward didn't…though she didn't know what it was, what he had done to Envy, when he was called a stuck-up old geezer was legendary amongst the other Homunculi…

Thankfully, he had developed a lot of bad habits, being the most powerful one of them all. He was incurably lazy, and only did what he felt like, when he wanted to…and sometimes didn't even listen to Father. Well, he _was_ the oldest, but that was unheard of. Pride was obviously Father's favourite, because if any of the others disobeyed an order, Father would somehow get back at them with their weaknesses.

Despite how much all of them vehemently denied having anything remotely resembling human weakness, they all did. Alric knew her own all too well…She had never been punished directly by Father, but Envy would, if she failed in a mission. Back then, she hadn't cared about the beatings…she only felt horrible about having let Envy down…

Pride was growing livid. This was _not_ good. If those rumours Greed had told her about were true, Al would be dead within a second. Quickly making a quick calculation of how much energy she'd be using for this, she moved.

8.8.8

"Human, you are seriously getting on my nerves…" growled the Homunculus, his fists shaking now, after his 30 somethingth death.

"You're welcome…" smirked Al, preparing yet another spear from the floor. He had been losing a lot of them recently. Every time the stupid thing regenerated he'd snap whatever Al had stabbed through him before he could pull it out and reuse it.

"Very well…I shall show you what makes me the most powerful of all Homunculi…the power gap that they could never breach within a millennium of struggle…"

Al yawned expressively, feigning boredom, despite his slight interest. He wondered what this guy could do…

"A power that is synonymous with divine retribution…and you shall be the first in three hundred years to see it…" declared the Homunculus.

Al suddenly felt his skin grow cold. As if the very warmth inside him was being drawn away from him. What the hell was going on? Energy seemed to be emanating from the Homunculus in front of him. Okay, maybe he didn't really want to know what this guy could do…

"Impressive isn't it, human?" smirked the Homunculus, "No witty comebacks to the true essence of the word power? This is the definition of…"

A sudden explosion of energy blasted from behind Pride, in a flash of bright blue light.

"Just shut up already…"finished Alric irritably, her right hand firmly latched onto the back of Pride's head.

"You talk too much…" she growled, draining the Homunculus' lives from his body.

"Alric-san?" Al said surprised. He did not expect something as miraculous like this to happen.

"Where's Nii-san?"

"Your idiot of a brother," she panted, "is on the upper levels, fighting with the Homunculi, if you haven't noticed…" she groaned, sitting down on top of the now lifeless Pride's body. Now that he thought about it…there were a couple of loud explosions coming from above…as was the occasional trickle of rubble. He could even feel the thrum of alchemic energy, racing through the ground.

"Are you okay?" asked Al, looking over at Al concernedly. She seemed really tired…

"I'm fine…how about you? Any injuries?" she retorted irritably, letting a tired eye travel across his figure. He didn't seem to have any injuries besides a few bruises which probably hadn't been dealt to him by Pride…That guy hit like a teddy bear…thought Alric amused.

"No I'm fine…" Al smiled weakly, as if to prove his point. She nodded. She was much better than Nii-san, who would be overreacting about his bruises right about now...he could almost hear his brother yelling about him being reckless and worrying him sick…

"You will be getting yelled at if you don't start moving…" growled Alric. Al turned to see her about a few feet away, standing near a pile of rubble.

"We're going to get up there and help those guys…" she said, "So get a move on it," she ordered.

"YES MA'AM!!!"

* * *

**OKAY! On to the next fight!!  
**


	19. Chapter 19

**I kind of went crazy at some points...but I'm not very good at the Ed outbursts/complaints/ rant lines, for when he's called short...and uhhhh...I can't believe I wrote that bit about Envy reminiscing...ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...i hate myself...actually i should be blaming the guys in my french class...i doubt that any of them read fanfics...those sick minded ba-...guys.**

* * *

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!" a streak of blonde light came whizzing towards him, bulling him over. A sharp stab of pain in his lower abdomen and the metallic taste of blood in his mouth told Envy that he'd just died. Before he could even think of what to do next, he felt another blade carve into his flesh, severing his right hand, and opening up his gut. Shit. He couldn't transform and regenerate at the same time. Best he could do right now was try to buy some time. 

"Woah there Fullmetal ru-…" he started to say, but was interrupted with a brutal punch in the face.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SUCH A SMALL BEAN THAT HE WOULDN'T GROW EVEN IN A MILLION YEARS?!?!?"

Okay, so maybe the insults might not work, but at least he had recovered enough to be able to transform.

Staring at Edward Elric with the face of his younger brother, Envy knew that he had at least ten seconds to attack the Fullmetal Alchemist. Ten seconds was a long…

Within two seconds, Ed had transmuted five stakes out of the ground around where Envy was currently standing. All five stakes pierced him in the upper chest.

"Nii-san…" gasped Envy, in his best imitation of Alphonse Elric. His acting skills were pretty good… He was rewarded by an electric shock running up the stakes, informing him that Ed had used the power lining and cables beneath the concrete floor to stab him.

Immediately, Envy shifted out of that shape, and grinned up at Edward.

"What? You two fight or something? Usually you go all gushy whenever you see your brother…"

Ed punched him…with a knife.

"It doesn't matter what face I see…because I know it isn't them…" growled Ed, punching him yet again.

"Owwwwwwww…"whined Envy irritably. He _hated_ pain. The way you couldn't feel your limbs…the burning sensation in the afflicted area…he hated it all…

"God dammit…that freaking hurt, midget…" moaned Envy, realizing, only too late his error.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING AN ULTRA SHORT MICROSCOPIC PARAMECIUM SIZED…!!!" Ed started to yell, beginning to pummel Envy's face, when Envy suddenly kicked his head.

Envy had taken the moment in which Ed had begun to start yelling, to extend his leg and smash it into the alchemist's head. The moment Ed was down, he broke himself out of the prison Fullmetal had put him into.

"Whaddya mean by 'it doesn't matter'?" asked Envy mockingly, "You know it isn't the same person, but you hesitate anyway…" Envy grinned mischievously for a moment. "Just like that Lieutenant Colonel…he couldn't lift a finger the moment I turned into his wife, what a…"

The burning, yet somehow cold sensation of a blade being driven straight through his gut made Envy pause mid-sentence.

"I told you before…just shut the hell up before you say something you'll regret…" said Edward Elric, his voice eerily calm.

8.8.8

Ed felt strange right now. He had all this anger built up inside of him…yet he couldn't let it out…was something wrong with him? Usually it all just came out of him in a shower of sparks and explosions, with a couple thousand cenz of property damages. But somehow, he felt exceptionally powerful. Everything Envy said was stored somewhere at the back of his head. Fuel for the raging fires within his mind…He wondered if this was similar to what Alric had mentioned before, when she went berserk at times…

"_Like I said before, my name is Wrath…" she panted heavily, "When I get mad…I get very, very mad…" she said. Ed thought that this was a bit of an understatement, seeing the damage she had just caused to the surrounding landscape._

"_To make it easier for you to understand…I naturally hate everything in the world…it takes a lot of mental energy for me to not rip everything I see into tiny pieces…" she sighed, casting a weary eye over the smoking ground. "Unfortunately, if there's enough outside stimulus…things tend to explode…" she shrugged sheepishly. "But when I'm in control of it…I find that I can focus it all on one thing…"_

_From that moment on, Edward swore to himself, that so long as he was Alric's partner on this side of the Gate, he would never call her hot-tempered…_

8.8.8

Shaking away the memory, he began to pulverize Envy. Every time the freak shape shifted, no matter what, Ed just kept on attacking. He smashed Al's skull in, stabbed Armstrong's gut and slit his throat, he beheaded his mother, snapped Winry's neck (how the hell did Envy know her?!), and finally got payback for the time Mustang had forced him to wear a dress…

Every time Envy shape shifted, there were no physical flaws with the image, but the mannerisms of each one were different than the real person…except for Mustang. Envy imitated the jerk perfectly in every aspect…possibly because he was just as much of a bastard as the Colonel…Ed already knew that Al would never intentionally hurt him, and neither would Winry; and he was pretty damn sure that Armstrong would never stand in such a girlish manner. So far Envy had died about fifty times by now, Ed had begun a mental tally of how many times he had killed the gender confused Homunculus…If he kept up this pace, Envy would be dead within the hour.

Okay, something had definitely changed in the Fullmetal runt's behaviour. Maybe it was because he'd gotten taller or something, but Edward Elric was not acting normally. He seemed exceptionally confident in his ability to strike down any face he saw...which he had every right to be. He'd even kill his little brother, his childhood friend, possibly his girlfriend, his commanding officer, his mother, and just about everyone Envy could think of that Fullmetal might possibly slow down for…No matter what face he used, Edward would unflinchingly kill him. Over the past year, Edward Elric had practically become a killing machine…What kind of weird place was beyond the Gate of Truth anyway?

"What the hell is your problem?" asked Envy, as he was forced out of the shape of Trisha Elric by a disembowelment.

"You'd do that to your own mother?!?"

"Like I said, it doesn't matter, because I know it's you…" sighed Edward, his voice deceptively calm. The Fullmetal Shrimp was beginning to scare him. His usual tactics of one-sided psychological warfare were not going to work, that much was obvious…and on top of that, Father had warned him about reverting to his true form…if the old Wrath was anywhere in the vicinity, he'd be totally screwed.

"Crap...I _hate_ fighting…" he whined.

8.8.8

This was so completely messed up. He was a freaking Homunculus! A superior being! And here he was, being pulverized by a stupid human alchemist. Something was definitely wrong with the world.

"Where do you get all that energy?" asked Envy, failing to dodge yet another of Edward's knives. How many did he have on him anyway?! This was almost as bad as Wrath…

"Same place you do…" growled Edward, slamming a blade straight into his rib cage, and with a fluid motion, pulled up, slicing his chest in half.

"Please…explain?" hissed Envy with the pain. He was pretty sure, that Edward Elric was not a Homunculus…he'd hit the boy a few times and knew such.

"Life" was Ed's single word response, accompanied by a burning electric shock from the transmutation of a metal knife in his rib cage.

"The people of this world give me strength…those close to me as well…and it's for them that I can fight for as long as it requires…" grunted Ed. 125, 126…

Judging from his expression, Envy didn't seem to understand…either that or he was frowning about the metal stakes inside his body…

"But you can kill those people?" asked Envy. His voice changed as he morphed into Alphonse Elric once more.

"Like I said…you're not them…" sighed Ed tiredly, as he drove yet another blade through the Homunculus' body.

"So this isn't all just because I called you an undersized ant, that people just love to step on is it?" smiled Envy, grinning furiously. The Homunculus was thinking of something…he never grinned like that for no reason…wait…did he just..?!?!?!

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING SHORT?!?!?" roared Edward, winding back to give the Homunculus the pounding of the century.

Just at that moment, Envy turned into Alric.

When Fullmetal finally froze, Envy was exceptionally shocked…sort of. He had kind of anticipated that perhaps Fullmetal would hesitate, but then punch him anyway…but to completely stop moving?

"You're fighting…for HER?!?" laughed Envy incredulously, "That's the most pathetic thing I've ever heard…" he laughed, punching Ed in the face, snapping the boy out of his mind freeze.

Still laughing hysterically, Envy happened upon a thought.

"Don't tell me you two…" he slapped a hand against his thigh, to try and stop himself from laughing. It didn't help at all.

"She's not even human…it's so ironic that it's funny!!!" he roared with laughter.

"Shut up!" growled Ed, recovering rapidly and slicing the Homunculus' throat open.

"You're the son of a bitch who raped her!!" he roared, his voice reflecting his growing anger. The tight hold over it that he had just a few moments ago fast disappearing.

"Raped?" laughed Envy incredulously, "The bitch was practically asking for it!!"

Ed snapped.

With a wild yell, he charged straight into the Homunculus, stabbing wildly, and ripping his flesh to shreds. Quick as a flash, Envy swiped outwards at Edward's face, using his hand as a knife.

Edward was attacking too directly, his swings were wider, and easier to block and counter. Envy only managed to graze the Elric boy's cheek, but the sight of blood on Ed's face was satisfactory. It reminded him of Wrath, slightly. Edward Elric even looked like her in a way, with that blonde hair and golden eyes…If he could keep rubbing it in, he might actually win…

8.8.8

Ed collapsed to the floor with a groan.

"Hurts doesn't it…are your ribs broken yet?" asked Envy, smirking.

"Go to hell…" growled Ed, swinging wildly at the Homunculus' face. Edward was bleeding badly and he knew it. One or two ribs were definitely broken, and the wounds on his side, while not fatal, could turn so…

A swift kick in the stomach sent Ed to his knees. Envy grabbed him by the hair and pulled him up, smiling.

"You know, Wrath screamed real good that time…all the while begging me to…"

"SHUT UP!!!" he shouted. Ed didn't want to know what Envy had done to Alric, especially the details. Envy was the one person Ed knew that had ever made Alric cry, and was the one person she truly feared.

"She was asking for it, always tagging along," continued Envy conversationally, throwing Ed down to the ground.

"'Envy-nii-chan can I come too?' 'Envy-nii-chan what should I do?' 'Envy-nii-chan don't leave me alone…" mimicked the Homunculus in a voice that barely resembled the voice Ed knew to be Alric's. This Wrath was a childish, naïve and trusting person. The only thing the two voices had in common was the same way they said that same sentence:

_Don't leave me alone._

Knowing Alric, he could hear the underlying terror beneath the many layers of the girl's voice. The absolute fear of abandonment and loss.

"It was always 'Envy-nii-chan don't go, don't leave me alone'" grumbled Envy, obviously caught up in memories.

"She would never shut up about it," he sighed expressively, "So then finally, I decided to not leave her alone…" he smirked.

That stupid smirk bugged him. Ed swore that it was almost exactly the same smirk that Mustang gave him every time Ed came back from some mission that helped further his career…He swore that he'd wipe that smirk off, and make the Colonel pay for having a smirk that resembled this certain Homunculus'…

"You…you spent over a century with Alric…and never understood what she meant by that?" groaned Ed, forcing himself to stand. His legs were already protesting abuse, but he shut that out.

"You're one sick son of a bitch…" he growled, curling his hands into fists.

"She called you Envy-nii-chan…Big brother Envy…" spat Ed disgusted, picking up one of his knives that had fallen to the floor.

"You were her big brother..." continued the Fullmetal Alchemist, softly, settling himself into a fighter's stance.

"Huh?" Envy was surprised that the midget could still even stand…

"Do you know why the big brother's born first?" asked Ed, his voice deathly quiet.

145, 146…

"So they can protect the little brothers and sisters when they're born!!!" he roared.

152, 153…

8.8.8

Being an older brother himself, the words held a lot of meaning for him. Sure when Al was born, he had resented some of the attention Mom had given the baby…but being so close in age…and size though he hated to admit it, he and Al got along pretty well…sort of. When _the _Bastard had left, they had become good friends, and inseparable after Mom's death.

Ed knew full well about sibling trust. He knew that Al would never intentionally hurt, or let him get hurt, and Ed would pulverize any idiot dumb enough to even TRY to hurt HIS little brother…

The girl Wrath had once believed in such a trust between herself and Envy, and had probably killed anyone who had tried to even touch the sick bastard. For Alric, that trust had been broken and she had lost her faith in everyone around her.

Remembering the girl he had initially met on the other side of the Gate, it was all so obvious. She isolated herself, she stayed away from the crowd, and she was so cold towards everyone. She trusted no one, especially anyone of the opposite gender, which made her an excellent partner when he had been assigned suspiciously easy jobs when he had worked at the police station. Gaining her trust had taken the better part of a year, as did trusting her for what she was. He remembered with embarrassment his initial reaction when he had discovered that she was a Homunculus…he had gotten the pounding of his life when he had guessed that she was Envy…

8.8.8

"PAY ATTENTION STUPID BROTHER!!!" he heard Al shout. The sound of Al's voice caused him to glance over his shoulder by pure reflex. Then he noticed that he had just barely dodged a blow that might have decapitated him.

"Pfft!!" huffed Envy disappointedly, "I'm going to kill him"

"WHAT?" growled Ed, new energy suddenly finding itself in his limbs, his eyes burning with rage. He wasn't exactly too sure, but had that Homunculus just uttered a death threat against his younger sibling…?

"DID YOU JUST THREATEN AL?!?" roared Ed.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!!" roared both Elric brothers in unison, both charging at the green-haired Homunculus.

"Aww crap…"

* * *

**Okay, i know i totally borrowed the 'big brother' line from BLEACH, which i happen to not own, for if I did, i'd be better at drawing and it would mean that all the people i do draw would have really reflective pants... Why does Ichigo's/ every other Shinigami's pants have white highlights/ creases? WHY?!?!?**


	20. Chapter 20

_**Okay...some of this chapter is pretty random...and when I say random I really mean random...Especially what Breda does...I was tired okay?**_

* * *

Alric spared only a glance at the Elric brothers. Both of them were starting to pound Envy to a pulp. _Serves the bastard right…_she thought, as she sped towards the regular soldiers' makeshift base.

Tactically, this was the worst place to be for them…Wide open spaces; which would be fine if it was single close combat, or an alchemy showdown, but was every regular soldier's nightmare. Places like these meant that you had to constantly be on your guard, and fast. There was no cover, reloading would have to be done ridiculously fast, and you had to keep at least a two metre ring of empty space around yourself. If anything got into that little ring, you were screwed…

8.8.8

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" screamed Fuery as a chimera breached their three metre line that they had marked around themselves.

Five rounds later, that chimera was dead, and they had moved onto the other ones.

"Fuery, stop screaming every time something happens, and get to work!!! Please…"growled Breda as an afterthought, reloading his shotgun.

"Y-yes sir.." stammered the Sergeant Major, resuming his work on makeshift explosives.

"It's at times like these, that you wish the Crimson Alchemist hadn't been incarcerated…" muttered Havok, firing off a few rounds straight into the skull of an unidentifiable mound of fur. It sort of looked like a bear, but not really…

Hawkeye was not amused.

"If the Crimson Alchemist was here, we'd all be dead…he'd have killed us all by now…"

"Sorry sir…just trying to make a joke…" shrugged the blonde man, glancing towards his other companions.

"It wasn't funny…"

"My apologies sir."

8.8.8

She remembered Zolof J. Kimblee all too well…He had made fun of her and hundreds of other during the Ishbal extermination campaign.

_What do you have to say to that, little miss sniper?_

Closing her eyes, she quickly dispelled that man's sinister voice from her mind, and refocused herself upon shooting down as many monsters as she could. She had the Colonel to save…wherever he was now. That monster had been chasing the Colonel around for a good half hour now. They were quite lucky that the Flame Alchemist had nimble feet. An explosion not too far away and gouts of flame lighting up the dark caverns indicated his direction. Hadn't the Colonel found out that fire didn't work against that giant thing? Maybe it was just supposed to be a distraction…

"Damn!" exclaimed Breda irritably, tossing down a shotgun. "Jammed!" he growled, "Pass me another one Falman!"

"I don't have anymore," called the Warrant Officer, as he reloaded his rifle.

"Bring the Tuba case!!" shouted the orange-haired man.

Everyone's eyes widened at the mention of 'the Tuba case'. It was meant as a last resort….the contents of the Tuba case that is…

Havok wasn't paying much attention to them, as he was busy riddling yet another strange mass of flesh with bullets.

"Well if you're going to get it, hurry up and get it! Fuery!" ordered the First-Lieutenant.

"Yessir!" Fuery dashed down beneath their makeshift barricades of tubing and rubble to retrieve the case.

Those who weren't firing stared as the Sergeant pulled the large case out from underneath a large rock.

"PERIMETER BREACH!!!" yelled Falman in a panicked voice, as a chimera came charging straight towards them.

The bullets didn't seem to be doing much to it…Havok had put at least twenty rounds into the bloody thing.

Immediately, Fuery began to hurriedly try to undo all the clasps on the Tuba case. However, as he grew more and more nervous, his finger kept slipping and fumbling around the locks.

"HURRY UP!" shouted Hawkeye, letting loose with a pistol in both hands. What the hell was that thing anyway?!? It was ridiculously large and almost as stubborn as Homunculus in terms of dying.

Finally Fuery got the case open, and suddenly froze.

Havok didn't know what was going on, but this thing was definitely too close for comfort.

Grabbing a grenade, he pulled the pin out with his teeth, and punched straight at the creature's mouth.

He suddenly realized the stupidity of his move when he realized that it was a lot harder to get your hand out of something's mouth than putting it in.

"S-SHIT!!!" he shouted in absolute horror at what he had just done.

"FUERY! HURRY IT UP!!!"

"But-But…"

Breda growled in frustration and anger, running to Havok's rescue.

"MAJOR ARMSTRONG-LIKE-MUSCLE ATTACK!!!!" he roared, grabbing the large chimera with all his strength and kicking Havok as hard as he could in the chest, sending him flying, and causing the man's arm to exit the chimera's mouth.

Havok wasn't so much of an idiot to be still holding the grenade…thank God…

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!" shouted Breda, with monstrous strength, threw the oversized chimera towards the tunnel from which those stupid monsters were all coming from.

BOOM!!!

After the debris had settled and red pieces of chimera had stopped raining upon them, they all looked up.

"Fuery, what the hell? Why didn't you…" started Havok rubbing his bloody hand as he got up. The First-Lieutenant stopped talking at what he saw, the scrapes the chimera's teeth had made upon his fist momentarily forgotten.

Within the red velvet lining of the tuba case…was a tuba…

"W-WHAT!!?!?!" He shouted in absolute shock.

"You play the tuba?" was all Falman asked.

"E-every Sunday…I'm in the community band…" answered Fuery quietly.

Somewhere in Fuery's dorm bunk, a tuba case was resting against the wall. Within that tuba case, lay the military's newest weapon that Alric had recently 'borrowed'. A weapon that could cut through any thing with a blue beam of light, sadly this weapon was never put to the test, and was accidentally disposed of during the Sergeant Major's absence.

8.8.8

He could feel the bloodlust in the air…and he was pretty sure all of it was directed towards him…

Why did everything bad always happen to him? Ever since he'd joined the military academy, it was always always him who got in trouble with the drill sergeants…was it just because he was almost as short as Edward? Well, now Ed was taller than him, making him the shortest out of everyone…Why was life so unfair?

Suddenly, the rage disappeared as everyone resumed their work of killing chimeras.

"Hey, Breda…what was that move you pulled off on that chimera…?" asked Havok, struggling to keep a straight face as he fired his rifle. Breda decidedly turned a few shades redder…almost as red as Ed had turned when the Colonel had started making improper remarks concerning his relationship with a certain blonde co-worker…

"Hey, I saved your life okay?" growled Breda defensively.

"Major Armstrong-like-muscle attack?" chuckled Falman, lobbing a grenade over their barricade into the crowd of chimeras. He should've guessed that _he_'d remember…Damn Falman and his bloody precise memory…

"S-Shut up…" Definitely as red as Ed had been.

"Well…ignoring all that…where on earth did you get so strong?" asked Hawkeye, taking out yet another chimera in one shot.

That had to be at least her two hundredth bulls-eye so far…he'd heard the stories about her, but this was seriously pushing the believable. Thinking back, almost everything that had happened to them was a bit sketchy….

The assassination… …walking suits of armour…Barry the Chopper... getting attacked by Homunculi...conspiracies…fate of the world type of things…losing all ability to walk…He had never pictured any of that stuff happening to him at all. Neither had he thought that one day Ed would disappear out of their lives, and then come back with a girlfriend…_that _definitely pushed the boundaries of reality…

8.8.8

He had stopped believing in fairy tales a long time ago… He knew that in reality, the good guys didn't always win, and more often than not, it was the monsters that won. But they could dream couldn't they? That was what the Elric Brothers had done. The Philosopher Stone didn't exist, but they had found it anyway, after all that hard work…sure it hadn't turned out to be exactly what they had wanted it to be, but they'd done the impossible…

"Falman! Watch out!" shouted Breda gesturing wildly towards an incoming chimera.

"Got it!" he called, firing his rifle at the creature.

Fuery suddenly screamed shrilly, as yet another chimera breached their security perimeter.

"Dammit Fuery! Stop that!" grumbled Breda, shooting the creature dead.

"You scream like a girl Fuery…" smiled Havok.

"Is there something wrong with girls?" The Lieutenant asked, her voice deathly quiet.

"N-No sir…"

8.8.8

_Where on earth could all those idiots be?_ She wondered, as she dashed through the wreckage of the underground base. Ed and Al were certainly making a mess…so was the Colonel. There had been no sign of Ling and his retainers, so she assumed the best. A loud explosion resounded through the air. Simply judging from the power of the blast, it could've been any group, but from the direction and the shrill screaming of a chimera, it had to be the soldiers. Alric pondered the idea of just teleporting towards them, but thought better of it. She'd need that energy later, if she was going to go ahead with her plan. Besides, running was good exercise, she told herself in a half-hearted attempt to convince herself. She rolled her eyes internally at that thought. She had always hated physical exertion. It had been a bad habit picked up from Envy, who had always complained about having to do anything. She had a lot of bad habits picked up from all the other Homunculi. She had Lust's bad habit of poking holes in things, literally and figuratively. She used to have Gluttony's bad habit of biting her finger, when she was confused or had nothing better to do, but she'd broken herself out of that habit a long time ago. It had been considered a bad habit when she had lived amongst the Homunculi, but like Greed, she would, at times, be seen almost as 'nice' or 'considerate'. Now she was glad that she had tagged after Greed when she was younger after all. Envy had hated it whenever she was around Greed, so she stopped after twenty years…then that bastard had to go and…

Alric bit her lip hard to bring herself back to reality. She had been running in the explosion's general direction for about five minutes. Yet there was still no sign of the soldiers.

She cursed softly. If she had been paying attention, she might have found them by now. Looking around she tried to find any indication of where they might be. All she needed was a signal.

As if on cue, a loud low pitch began to reverberate through the air. Definitely them.

Alric took off again at a fast pace. She had been waiting for a noise…but wasn't that a tuba?

8.8.8

Who knew that chimeras had such sensitive ears? Fuery continued to play that low note, even though he was turning bright red now. It had been an accident really, that they had discovered this new technique.

The chimeras had, for some unknown reason, let up their attack on them. They assumed that they had strategically pulled back to regroup and reorganize themselves…or to just lick their wounds.

In response to this, Hawkeye had organized them into watches, and had set them to work, cleaning their weaponry, counting ammo, and fortifying their position. Breda had wanted to use the seemingly useless tuba as a wall, to which Fuery had been firmly against. Fuery had argued that if they got out of this alive, he'd still want his tuba, since it had cost him a year's salary to obtain it. Breda's argument was that the chances of them getting out of this were slim, but the tuba might lengthen them. Clearly Breda's argument was the better, but Fuery turned out to be incredibly stubborn. The argument soon degraded into a full blown fistfight, and resulted in Fuery blowing loudly into Breda's ear with the tuba.

Much to everyone's shock, the sound resulted in chaos amongst the chimeras. Some had started to attack one another, and some to run in circles howling or whatever noise they made. One actually collapsed with blood oozing out of its ears.

Now Fuery was put to playing the tuba, while the other practiced their sniping skills…

8.8.8

Alric watched quietly a short distance away. They were doing alright, and would keep doing so if they kept working as a team like that. She turned around and began running the other way. Now for Mustang…

* * *

**Notes:**  
So normally, it would be high pitched sounds that would irritate a creature's ear drums to the point that they burst but...well, it would be hard to fit the world's first ever laser into a piccolo case now would it?

As well, some of the time statements. I am aware that Greed is only supposedly a bit over two hundred years old, but that's not much fun...because two hundred years isn't much time to play with. And if he was only two hundred years old, that would also kill Envy being in contact with Alric, since I made her about two hundred years old. Envy is obviously younger than Greed (I'm following the manga remember?) as could be seen from the 'have you gone senile in your old age?" from Vol. 8. (it's obviously an insult, so Envy deems old age a bad thing as he is 'young') So all the Homunculi are about two hundred years older than they are officially. This just as a convenience for me, and because I never really knew how old they were supposed to be until i re-read a couple chapters...


	21. Chapter 21

**Sorry for the huge wait...but I _had_ to read up to 262 of Bleach, 341 of Naruto****68 of Fullmetal...and increase wordcount from 125 to 2317...on top of that I totally failed my chem-lab that has yet to be marked, but I'm panicking anyway!!! On top of that, Bio just got sooo interesting...if you don't know what I'm talking about go read my Zelda fanfic...there's more bio facts to come...bwahahaha...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of its characters. If I did, I would have insisted that Envy be a man in the English dubbing of the series, and the anime would still be going on, without all the weirdness.**

* * *

_Deep breaths. Calm down. Calm down._ Somehow he didn't think he could do that right now. It would only be a matter of minutes before that thing would realize where he'd gone. _Calm down. Calm down…_Man was he lucky that this Gluttony was stupid…In his situation it was hard to see the upside of the Homunculus' rage but at least it wasn't thinking clearly…if it could that is.

Colonel Roy Mustang forced himself to breathe. Damn. Was he really so weak as to not be able to fight against this monster? He could already hear Fullmetal's snide remarks.

'_Don' you dare go dying on her.'_

He was surprised. Instead of Ed, it was Alric's voice that he heard first. Then again, the two looked so similar that if Alric didn't have female secondary sexual characteristics, they'd be identical…well, almost.

A loud clang not too far off from his current position almost made him jump. He was going to die…he was going to die…He shook his head firmly, trying to focus on the Homunculus' movements. Judging from the noises…Heck, with all the explosions going on, who knew what was happening. _I'm going to die…_ he thought morosely. Then it hit him just exactly how much he didn't want to die. His hands clenched into fists and had begun to shake violently. If he died, all his dreams would go unfulfilled, and hundreds of innocents would pay for his mistakes again…

'Don't you dare go dying on her'

She obviously meant the First-Lieutenant. His fear was suddenly replaced with indignation.

Was EVERYONE firmly convinced that there was something going on between them?!? IT must have been Hughes…him and all his rumors and gossip. He'd probably mentioned Ishbal. Damn that idiot. If he wasn't already dead.

_He'd be here risking his neck…_ he thought somberly.

"MUSTANG?!?! WHERE?!?! LUST!!!YOU KILLED LUST!!!!" he heard Gluttony yell. _THAT_, that was _way_ too close. He bolted.

It proved to be the correct decision as Gluttony came tearing through the wall after him.

Aww geez…How come he was the only one running around like a rat in a maze? He caught a glimpse of the three from Xing engaged in battle. They seemed to be winning…unlike him…

8.8.8

"Hey, isn't that the Colonel?" pointed Ling. Wrath glanced briefly in the direction indicated.

"Why, yes it—"

Ling's sword came in contact with his blade. He'd barely blocked that one.

"Can't believe you fell for that one…" chuckled the boy.

"Your comrade is in danger and you use him as a ploy?"

"No. I just noticed him, that's all." He said grinning all the more.

Seriously…this guy was getting on his nerves…

8.8.8

He'd thought that it would be easier ever since Al showed up. But now it was just getting harder. Envy kept switching into either him or his brother, in attempts to distract them. And it was working…unfortunately. Al kept falling for it every time. Ed never did, since he constantly watched his brother like a hawk from the corner of his eye. Al on the other hand, was constantly being shocked by seeing two Ed's from time to time. Envy was _seriously_ getting on his nerves…And sadly, Al was beginning to become a bit of a pain. Ed had always been the better fighter…well he had lost most of the fights they had as kids, but he always, always won when it actually mattered.

Al had always been the more cool-headed one, but his gentle-nature wasn't much help against a Homunculus. Ed's fiery temper and split second improvisations, that anyone with half a brain would deem incredibly stupid, turned out to be the greatest combat style ever. It was easier to read an intelligent fighting plan, and even easier to counter one. Stupidity and unpredictability were two things that usually went hand in hand, and had a tendency to end terribly, but so far it was keeping him and his brother alive.

Seriously. You'd think they'd murder him now that it was two on one, but the younger Elric brother wasn't helping Edward out too much. He kept getting in the shorter boy's way, which gave Envy more opportunities to cut the already bleeding Fullmetal Alchemist some more, while he pulled off impressive feats to keep his little brother from harm. At this rate, Edward Elric would be dead in no time.

Ed had no clue how much longer he could keep this up… he had already been fighting injured, and now he had to keep on fighting. His temper could only fuel him for so long…Now he lacked the energy to even shout insults at Envy for every time he called him 'short'. He was _so_ not short! He was just slightly under average size…by an inch…or two…But that did _not _make him short!! A sudden sharp pain in his side nearly forced him to his knees. His prediction that some of his wounds turning fatal was beginning to proving themselves true. He was losing way too much blood, and his vision was beginning to get a bit foggy. He felt his knees buckling and the warm, sickeningly metallic taste of hot blood in his mouth caused him to gag. He felt as if the world was falling all around him…The ground beneath his feet began to shake…So this was how it would end, huh?

"ED!!!!!!!!!!" he heard a vaguely familiar voice shout, just as he collapsed.

8.8.8

Damn. Just when things couldn't possibly have gotten worse… Alric and Mustang just happened to end up where Ed and Al were fighting…with Gluttony, rolling after them. The fat moron had somehow gotten it into his head that he was faster when he rolled, and he was correct.

So far the only good thing that had happened after she had dropped Al off here…was nothing, from the looks of it. In fact the alchemists looked a bit worse for the wear…Just what was that idiot thinking?!…Then she saw Ed fall.

Her heart felt as if it had suddenly froze and stopped, in such a way so similar to having a stake run through it…Still struggling to pump rapidly despite the sharp object piercing the muscle… the tightness in her throat akin to the sensation of hot blood and flesh catching inside her throat…All before the inevitable end of death…But for a Homunculus, there was no such thing as death…They were the abominations that defied the laws of this world, the laws of nature…the laws of time…

"ED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

8.8.8

At Alric's scream, Mustang completely forgot that he was being chased by an enormous, two hundred, possibly four hundred pound Homunculus. The Fullmetal Alchemist had just collapsed with a gentle, sickening thud to the rubble strewn floor. For a moment, Roy Mustang just found himself staring at the boy's limp, blood-stained body, then an explosion about two metres away from himself brought him sharply back to reality.

"Alphonse! RUN!!" he shouted, moving fast himself.

"I can't let you do that, Mr. Flame Alchemist…" he heard someone say behind him, and he whirled around to find himself staring into a pair of cold purple eyes.

The Colonel managed to dodge a swipe that would have taken off his head by an inch. From the corner of his eye, he saw Alric on her knees in front of Edward's body. If he wasn't dead, Alric could save him…but if he already was…

No.

The Edward he knew was strong, and would fight to the end with his last breath, cursing his enemy for some supposed slight to his stature... The Edward he knew would probably beat the crap out of the grim reaper if he tried to take him before he could get even with the Colonel. If he remembered correctly, Ed still hadn't gotten his revenge for the time Mustang had made a few… 'suggestive' remarks a few years back…

"The Fullmetal Runt is dead. A pity…a waste of a good sacrifice…" said Envy, grinning, as he tried yet again to skewer the Flame Alchemist.

"You're lying," blurted Roy immediately, his voice revealing his fear.

"Why should I? I killed him myself."

Roy's eyes widened slightly. He really shouldn't be taking anything this walking palm-tree said to be true…

"He's as dead as Lt. Colonel Hughes. Oh yeah, he was your friend wasn't he?" smirked the Homunculus.

At that Roy's eyes widened even further. In a brusque sudden movement, he snapped his fingers, and the Homunculus burst into flames. And then he noticed something happening a few metres back.

"Oh crap…"

8.8.8

Consciousness came back to him slowly. Was he dead? A twinge of pain in his side indicated that he wasn't, unless you could still feel pain when you died…which would totally suck. Then being dead wouldn't be that much different than life…but then again, he had seen what 'Hell' looked like, and it wasn't so bad…

_I'd be able to see Mom again…_he thought as his vision began to refocus. He had met her there…beyond the Gate of Truth…

Trisha Elric had been seven years old…on that side. Ed wasn't sure if it was a coincidence, but she had been the one who found him, when he had fallen from the sky. Alric had said that everyone was inadvertently drawn to people they had known from the other side. Because they _were _the same. They may grow up under different circumstances, but they were still the same people…

"Don't you dare die on me…Don't you dare leave me alone again. Don't you _dare_!" he heard a female voice whisper fiercely. His eyes focused again, and he looked around with just his eyes, to see Alric kneeling over him.

"Alric?" he murmured softly.

She looked towards his face. She had been crying…Alric wiped her cloudy golden eyes with the back of her arm.

"Good you're awake…Just bear with this for a moment…" she mumbled to half to herself, as she slapped her hands together and placed them gently upon his body.

"AGGGGWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

8.8.8

For a moment, Hawkeye looked up and behind herself. That scream… that had been Ed's voice. A sliver of fear permeated through her mind. She hoped that he was okay…An explosion from the same direction almost made her heart stop. In such a situation it was hard to see how anyone could possibly be 'okay'…

8.8.8

It had been imperative that Ed was awake before she transmuted his injuries out of existence. If not, she might have killed him…If she had killed him, she'd probably kill herself, and everyone else in a three hundred mile radius in an attempt to bring him back to life…Or she would have forgotten everything else and travel back to the other side of the gate and find him…Homunculi were such selfish creatures…

"So are humans…" she heard Ed gasp, as he sat up. It suddenly occurred to her that she had said that last thought aloud.

"In fact when you think about it, the origin of all seven of the Deadly sins would be selfishness…" he said.

"You scared me…" she whispered softly, "I thought you were dead…"

"If I was dead, you'd have killed me by now!" he laughed.

"It's not funny! What would happen to _Al_ if you died _again_?! What would _I_ do if you died for _real_?" she shouted at him.

"There is _no_ way. No way in hell, that I would get myself killed by that gender confused, cross-dressing bastard," said Ed confidently.

"You're such an idiot…" she muttered, trying to frown, but instead found herself smiling.

An explosion brought both of them out of that little moment, as well as the sound of Roy Mustang shouting out in bewilderment, horror, shock, and incredulity, or a combination thereof.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!?!?!?!"

Alric looked off in that direction.

"I think he found the melting pot…" she said softly. Ed looked at her confused.

"melting pot?"

"It's complicated, and I really don't know what it is myself, but it turns Homunculi into their elementary state…namely a lump of the Stone…"

"Turns them to stone…hmmm…I think I've got an idea…" said Ed grinning.

8.8.8

Alphonse glanced over at Ed and Alric. Good…Nii-san was healed. That was good. They'd probably go off to help the Colonel. That meant he could focus all his energy entirely upon beating the crap out of Envy…When the Colonel had burnt the green-haired Homunculus to a crisp, he had seen Gluttony, rolling straight for him. And like any sane being, he ran for it. Unfortunately for Envy, who hadn't seen his sibling coming, he was crushed as flat as a pancake…well as much as was physically possible. It wasn't possible to actually crush a person's bones to a fine enough powder with just one pass of a two to four hundred pound weight. The mess Envy had left had been rather disgusting really.

When a person was flattened, their skull collapsed upon itself, leaving jagged shapes within Envy's general head area, as well as causing massive blood loss from the head cavity, and brains to be splattered everywhere, if the weight was moving fast enough. Envy's ribs had pierced straight through his front when they had fractured and had been pushed downwards, leaving a bloody tangle of cloth, flesh and blood on the ground. For a while, Al had thought that the Homunculus had actually died for real, until he heard a groan and a stream of curses come from the spiky haired teenager.

Oh well, he guessed it was for the best. If Alric hadn't already left, she'd be the one pounding him to a pulp, and getting emotionally damaged by the Homunculus. Why Envy had done what he had to her was beyond Alphonse's ability to understand. They had been siblings…ewww…That meant that it was…Alphonse had to keep himself from barfing. Okay, maybe he shouldn't worry about that sort of thing…It would be best if he just concentrated on fighting. Yes. Concentrate on fighting, not about the disgusting details of Envy's actions…ick…

* * *

**Crappy ending to the chapter, I know...but if you want to know what's going to happen, you had better wait. I'm going to China for the March Break, so when I get back, I hope to see a tonne of reviews, or what happened with Second Chance's ending will happen again. Do you want that? OrangeKittyAlchemist-Sony tells me no.**


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